Considerations in representing human individuals in social ecological models

USGS Publications Warehouse

Manfredo, Michael J.; Teel, Tara L.; Gavin, Michael C.; Fulton, David C.

2017-01-01

In this chapter we focus on how to integrate the human individual into social-ecological systems analysis, and how to improve research on individual thought and action regarding the environment by locating it within the broader social-ecological context. We discuss three key questions as considerations for future research: (1) is human thought conceptualized as a dynamic and adaptive process, (2) is the individual placed in a multi-level context (including within-person levels, person-group interactions, and institutional and structural factors), and (3) is human thought seen as mutually constructed with the social and natural environment. Increased emphasis on the individual will be essential if we are to understand agency, innovation, and adaptation in social-ecological systems.

Nutritional ecology beyond the individual: a conceptual framework for integrating nutrition and social interactions.

PubMed

Lihoreau, Mathieu; Buhl, Jerome; Charleston, Michael A; Sword, Gregory A; Raubenheimer, David; Simpson, Stephen J

2015-03-01

Over recent years, modelling approaches from nutritional ecology (known as Nutritional Geometry) have been increasingly used to describe how animals and some other organisms select foods and eat them in appropriate amounts in order to maintain a balanced nutritional state maximising fitness. These nutritional strategies profoundly affect the physiology, behaviour and performance of individuals, which in turn impact their social interactions within groups and societies. Here, we present a conceptual framework to study the role of nutrition as a major ecological factor influencing the development and maintenance of social life. We first illustrate some of the mechanisms by which nutritional differences among individuals mediate social interactions in a broad range of species and ecological contexts. We then explain how studying individual- and collective-level nutrition in a common conceptual framework derived from Nutritional Geometry can bring new fundamental insights into the mechanisms and evolution of social interactions, using a combination of simulation models and manipulative experiments. © 2015 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and CNRS.

Navigating the Perfect Storm: Research Strategies for Socialecological Systems in a Rapidly Evolving World

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dearing, John A.; Bullock, Seth; Costanza, Robert; Dawson, Terry P.; Edwards, Mary E.; Poppy, Guy M.; Smith, Graham M.

2012-04-01

The `Perfect Storm' metaphor describes a combination of events that causes a surprising or dramatic impact. It lends an evolutionary perspective to how social-ecological interactions change. Thus, we argue that an improved understanding of how social-ecological systems have evolved up to the present is necessary for the modelling, understanding and anticipation of current and future social-ecological systems. Here we consider the implications of an evolutionary perspective for designing research approaches. One desirable approach is the creation of multi-decadal records produced by integrating palaeoenvironmental, instrument and documentary sources at multiple spatial scales. We also consider the potential for improved analytical and modelling approaches by developing system dynamical, cellular and agent-based models, observing complex behaviour in social-ecological systems against which to test systems dynamical theory, and drawing better lessons from history. Alongside these is the need to find more appropriate ways to communicate complex systems, risk and uncertainty to the public and to policy-makers.

Comparing spatially explicit ecological and social values for natural areas to identify effective conservation strategies.

PubMed

Bryan, Brett Anthony; Raymond, Christopher Mark; Crossman, Neville David; King, Darran

2011-02-01

Consideration of the social values people assign to relatively undisturbed native ecosystems is critical for the success of science-based conservation plans. We used an interview process to identify and map social values assigned to 31 ecosystem services provided by natural areas in an agricultural landscape in southern Australia. We then modeled the spatial distribution of 12 components of ecological value commonly used in setting spatial conservation priorities. We used the analytical hierarchy process to weight these components and used multiattribute utility theory to combine them into a single spatial layer of ecological value. Social values assigned to natural areas were negatively correlated with ecological values overall, but were positively correlated with some components of ecological value. In terms of the spatial distribution of values, people valued protected areas, whereas those natural areas underrepresented in the reserve system were of higher ecological value. The habitats of threatened animal species were assigned both high ecological value and high social value. Only small areas were assigned both high ecological value and high social value in the study area, whereas large areas of high ecological value were of low social value, and vice versa. We used the assigned ecological and social values to identify different conservation strategies (e.g., information sharing, community engagement, incentive payments) that may be effective for specific areas. We suggest that consideration of both ecological and social values in selection of conservation strategies can enhance the success of science-based conservation planning. ©2010 Society for Conservation Biology.

Proceedings of the Agent 2002 Conference on Social Agents : Ecology, Exchange, and Evolution

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Macal, C., ed.; Sallach, D., ed.

2003-04-10

Welcome to the ''Proceedings'' of the third in a series of agent simulation conferences cosponsored by Argonne National Laboratory and The University of Chicago. The theme of this year's conference, ''Social Agents: Ecology, Exchange and Evolution'', was selected to foster the exchange of ideas on some of the most important social processes addressed by agent simulation models, namely: (1) The translation of ecology and ecological constraints into social dynamics; (2) The role of exchange processes, including the peer dependencies they create; and (3) The dynamics by which, and the attractor states toward which, social processes evolve. As stated in themore » ''Call for Papers'', throughout the social sciences, the simulation of social agents has emerged as an innovative and powerful research methodology. The promise of this approach, however, is accompanied by many challenges. First, modeling complexity in agents, environments, and interactions is non-trivial, and these representations must be explored and assessed systematically. Second, strategies used to represent complexities are differentially applicable to any particular problem space. Finally, to achieve sufficient generality, the design and experimentation inherent in agent simulation must be coupled with social and behavioral theory. Agent 2002 provides a forum for reviewing the current state of agent simulation scholarship, including research designed to address such outstanding issues. This year's conference introduces an extensive range of domains, models, and issues--from pre-literacy to future projections, from ecology to oligopolistic markets, and from design to validation. Four invited speakers highlighted major themes emerging from social agent simulation.« less

Social Ecological Model of Illness Management in High-Risk Youths with Type 1 Diabetes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naar-King, Sylvie; Podolski, Cheryl-Lynn; Ellis, Deborah A.; Frey, Maureen A.; Templin, Thomas

2006-01-01

In this study, the authors tested a social ecological model of illness management in high-risk, urban adolescents with Type 1 diabetes. It was hypothesized that management behaviors would be associated with individual adolescent characteristics as well as family, peer, and provider relationships. Questionnaires were collected from 96 adolescents…

Annual Research Review: What is resilience within the social ecology of human development?

PubMed

Ungar, Michael; Ghazinour, Mehdi; Richter, Jörg

2013-04-01

  The development of Bronfenbrenner's bio-social-ecological systems model of human development parallels advances made to the theory of resilience that progressively moved from a more individual (micro) focus on traits to a multisystemic understanding of person-environment reciprocal processes.   This review uses Bronfenbrenner's model and Ungar's social-ecological interpretation of four decades of research on resilience to discuss the results of a purposeful selection of studies of resilience that have been done in different contexts and cultures.   An ecological model of resilience can, and indeed has been shown to help researchers of resilience to conceptualize the child's social and physical ecologies, from caregivers to neighbourhoods, that account for both proximal and distal factors that predict successful development under adversity. Three principles emerged from this review that inform a bio-social-ecological interpretation of resilience: equifinality (there are many proximal processes that can lead to many different, but equally viable, expressions of human development associated with well-being); differential impact (the nature of the risks children face, their perceptions of the resources available to mitigate those risks and the quality of the resources that are accessible make proximal processes more or less influential to children's development); and contextual and cultural moderation (different contexts and cultures provide access to different processes associated with resilience as it is defined locally).   As this review shows, using this multisystemic social-ecological theory of resilience can inform a deeper understanding of the processes that contribute to positive development under stress. It can also offer practitioners and policy makers a broader perspective on principles for the design and implementation of effective interventions. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry © 2012 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Social Interface Model: Theorizing Ecological Post-Delivery Processes for Intervention Effects.

PubMed

Pettigrew, Jonathan; Segrott, Jeremy; Ray, Colter D; Littlecott, Hannah

2018-01-03

Successful prevention programs depend on a complex interplay among aspects of the intervention, the participant, the specific intervention setting, and the broader set of contexts with which a participant interacts. There is a need to theorize what happens as participants bring intervention ideas and behaviors into other life-contexts, and theory has not yet specified how social interactions about interventions may influence outcomes. To address this gap, we use an ecological perspective to develop the social interface model. This paper presents the key components of the model and its potential to aid the design and implementation of prevention interventions. The model is predicated on the idea that intervention message effectiveness depends not only on message aspects but also on the participants' adoption and adaptation of the message vis-à-vis their social ecology. The model depicts processes by which intervention messages are received and enacted by participants through social processes occurring within and between relevant microsystems. Mesosystem interfaces (negligible interface, transference, co-dependence, and interdependence) can facilitate or detract from intervention effects. The social interface model advances prevention science by theorizing that practitioners can create better quality interventions by planning for what occurs after interventions are delivered.

Nutritional ecology beyond the individual: a conceptual framework for integrating nutrition and social interactions

PubMed Central

Lihoreau, Mathieu; Buhl, Jerome; Charleston, Michael A; Sword, Gregory A; Raubenheimer, David; Simpson, Stephen J

2015-01-01

Over recent years, modelling approaches from nutritional ecology (known as Nutritional Geometry) have been increasingly used to describe how animals and some other organisms select foods and eat them in appropriate amounts in order to maintain a balanced nutritional state maximising fitness. These nutritional strategies profoundly affect the physiology, behaviour and performance of individuals, which in turn impact their social interactions within groups and societies. Here, we present a conceptual framework to study the role of nutrition as a major ecological factor influencing the development and maintenance of social life. We first illustrate some of the mechanisms by which nutritional differences among individuals mediate social interactions in a broad range of species and ecological contexts. We then explain how studying individual- and collective-level nutrition in a common conceptual framework derived from Nutritional Geometry can bring new fundamental insights into the mechanisms and evolution of social interactions, using a combination of simulation models and manipulative experiments. PMID:25586099

Applying the Social Ecological Model to Creating Asthma-Friendly Schools in Louisiana

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nuss, Henry J.; Hester, Laura L.; Perry, Mark A.; Stewart-Briley, Collette; Reagon, Valamar M.; Collins, Pamela

2016-01-01

Background: In 2010, the Louisiana Asthma Management and Prevention Program (LAMP) implemented the Asthma-Friendly Schools Initiative in high-risk Louisiana populations. The social ecological model (SEM) was used as a framework for an asthma program implemented in 70 state K-12 public schools over 2 years. Methods: Activities included a needs…

Helping Students Develop a 21st Century Environmental & Social Ethic.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peters, Richard Oakes

This document presents an interdisciplinary curriculum in ecology and social studies for the K-12 grade level. Topics include: (1) A Model Strategy; (2) Participatory Citizenship; (3) Graphic Studies; (4) Globescope Matrices; (5) Nurturing an Environmental and Social Ethic; (6) Unit Outline; and (7) Lesson Design Format. Ecology lesson plans are…

Political violence and child adjustment in Northern Ireland: Testing pathways in a social-ecological model including single-and two-parent families.

PubMed

Cummings, E Mark; Schermerhorn, Alice C; Merrilees, Christine E; Goeke-Morey, Marcie C; Shirlow, Peter; Cairns, Ed

2010-07-01

Moving beyond simply documenting that political violence negatively impacts children, we tested a social-ecological hypothesis for relations between political violence and child outcomes. Participants were 700 mother-child (M = 12.1 years, SD = 1.8) dyads from 18 working-class, socially deprived areas in Belfast, Northern Ireland, including single- and two-parent families. Sectarian community violence was associated with elevated family conflict and children's reduced security about multiple aspects of their social environment (i.e., family, parent-child relations, and community), with links to child adjustment problems and reductions in prosocial behavior. By comparison, and consistent with expectations, links with negative family processes, child regulatory problems, and child outcomes were less consistent for nonsectarian community violence. Support was found for a social-ecological model for relations between political violence and child outcomes among both single- and two-parent families, with evidence that emotional security and adjustment problems were more negatively affected in single-parent families. The implications for understanding social ecologies of political violence and children's functioning are discussed.

Political violence and child adjustment in Northern Ireland: Testing pathways in a social ecological model including single and two-parent families

PubMed Central

Cummings, E. Mark; Schermerhorn, Alice C.; Merrilees, Christine E.; Goeke-Morey, Marcie C.; Shirlow, Peter; Cairns, Ed

2013-01-01

Moving beyond simply documenting that political violence negatively impacts children, a social ecological hypothesis for relations between political violence and child outcomes was tested. Participants were 700 mother-child (M=12.1years, SD=1.8) dyads from 18 working class, socially deprived areas in Belfast, Northern Ireland, including single- and two-parent families. Sectarian community violence was associated with elevated family conflict and children’s reduced security about multiple aspects of their social environment (i.e., family, parent-child relations, and community), with links to child adjustment problems and reductions in prosocial behavior. By comparison, and consistent with expectations, links with negative family processes, child regulatory problems and child outcomes were less consistent for nonsectarian community violence. Support was found for a social ecological model for relations between political violence and child outcomes among both single and two parent families, with evidence that emotional security and adjustment problems were more negatively affected in single-parent families. The implications for understanding social ecologies of political violence and children’s functioning are discussed. PMID:20604605

Big cats as a model system for the study of the evolution of intelligence.

PubMed

Borrego, Natalia

2017-08-01

Currently, carnivores, and felids in particular, are vastly underrepresented in cognitive literature, despite being an ideal model system for tests of social and ecological intelligence hypotheses. Within Felidae, big cats (Panthera) are uniquely suited to studies investigating the evolutionary links between social, ecological, and cognitive complexity. Intelligence likely did not evolve in a unitary way but instead evolved as the result of mutually reinforcing feedback loops within the physical and social environments. The domain-specific social intelligence hypothesis proposes that social complexity drives only the evolution of cognitive abilities adapted only to social domains. The domain-general hypothesis proposes that the unique demands of social life serve as a bootstrap for the evolution of superior general cognition. Big cats are one of the few systems in which we can directly address conflicting predictions of the domain-general and domain-specific hypothesis by comparing cognition among closely related species that face roughly equivalent ecological complexity but vary considerably in social complexity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Conservation success as a function of good alignment of social and ecological structures and processes.

PubMed

Bodin, Orjan; Crona, Beatrice; Thyresson, Matilda; Golz, Anna-Lea; Tengö, Maria

2014-10-01

How to create and adjust governing institutions so that they align (fit) with complex ecosystem processes and structures across scales is an issue of increasing concern in conservation. It is argued that lack of such social-ecological fit makes governance and conservation difficult, yet progress in explicitly defining and rigorously testing what constitutes a good fit has been limited. We used a novel modeling approach and data from case studies of fishery and forest conservation to empirically test presumed relationships between conservation outcomes and certain patterns of alignment of social-ecological interdependences. Our approach made it possible to analyze conservation outcome on a systems level while also providing information on how individual actors are positioned in the complex web of social-ecological interdependencies. We found that when actors who shared resources were also socially linked, conservation at the level of the whole social-ecological system was positively affected. When the scales at which individual actors used resources and the scale at which ecological resources were interconnected to other ecological resources were aligned through tightened feedback loops, conservation outcome was better than when they were not aligned. The analysis of individual actors' positions in the web of social-ecological interdependencies was helpful in understanding why a system has a certain level of social-ecological fit. Results of analysis of positions showed that different actors contributed in very different ways to achieve a certain fit and revealed some underlying difference between the actors, for example in terms of actors' varying rights to access and use different ecological resources. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

Testing a Social Ecological Model for Relations between Political Violence and Child Adjustment in Northern Ireland

PubMed Central

Cummings, E. Mark; Merrilees, Christine E.; Schermerhorn, Alice C.; Goeke-Morey, Marcie C.; Shirlow, Peter; Cairns, Ed

2013-01-01

Relations between political violence and child adjustment are matters of international concern. Past research demonstrates the significance of community, family and child psychological processes in child adjustment, supporting study of inter-relations between multiple social ecological factors and child adjustment in contexts of political violence. Testing a social ecological model, 300 mothers and their children (M= 12.28 years, SD = 1.77) from Catholic and Protestant working class neighborhoods in Belfast, Northern Ireland completed measures of community discord, family relations, and children’s regulatory processes (i.e., emotional security) and outcomes. Historical political violence in neighborhoods based on objective records (i.e., politically motivated deaths) were related to family members’ reports of current sectarian and non-sectarian antisocial behavior. Interparental conflict and parental monitoring and children’s emotional security about both the community and family contributed to explanatory pathways for relations between sectarian antisocial behavior in communities and children’s adjustment problems. The discussion evaluates support for social ecological models for relations between political violence and child adjustment and its implications for understanding relations in other parts of the world. PMID:20423550

Testing a social ecological model for relations between political violence and child adjustment in Northern Ireland.

PubMed

Cummings, E Mark; Merrilees, Christine E; Schermerhorn, Alice C; Goeke-Morey, Marcie C; Shirlow, Peter; Cairns, Ed

2010-05-01

Relations between political violence and child adjustment are matters of international concern. Past research demonstrates the significance of community, family, and child psychological processes in child adjustment, supporting study of interrelations between multiple social ecological factors and child adjustment in contexts of political violence. Testing a social ecological model, 300 mothers and their children (M = 12.28 years, SD = 1.77) from Catholic and Protestant working class neighborhoods in Belfast, Northern Ireland, completed measures of community discord, family relations, and children's regulatory processes (i.e., emotional security) and outcomes. Historical political violence in neighborhoods based on objective records (i.e., politically motivated deaths) were related to family members' reports of current sectarian antisocial behavior and nonsectarian antisocial behavior. Interparental conflict and parental monitoring and children's emotional security about both the community and family contributed to explanatory pathways for relations between sectarian antisocial behavior in communities and children's adjustment problems. The discussion evaluates support for social ecological models for relations between political violence and child adjustment and its implications for understanding relations in other parts of the world.

Exploring the Social Ecological Model Based on National Student Achievements: Extracting Educational Leaders' Role

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shapira-Lishchinsky, Orly; Ben-Amram, Miri

2018-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to reexamine the effect of internal school factors such as school violence and class size, and external school factors such as family socio-economic resources on student math achievements, based on the social ecological model, eliciting an integrative approach. Data were collected from an Israeli national database,…

[Political ecology, ecological economics, and public health: interfaces for the sustainability of development and health promotion].

PubMed

Porto, Marcelo Firpo; Martinez-Alier, Joan

2007-01-01

This article proposes to focus contributions from political ecology and ecological economics to the field of collective health with a view towards integrating the discussions around health promotion, socio-environmental sustainability, and development. Ecological economics is a recent interdisciplinary field that combines economists and other professionals from the social, human, and life sciences. The field has developed new concepts and methodologies that seek to grasp the relationship between the economy and ecological and social processes such as social metabolism and metabolic profile, thereby interrelating economic, material, and energy flows and producing indicators and indexes for (un)sustainability. Meanwhile, political ecology approaches ecological issues and socio-environmental conflicts based on the economic and power dynamics characterizing modern societies. Collective health and the discussions on health promotion can expand our understanding of territory, communities, and the role of science and institutions based on the contributions of political ecology and ecological economics in analyzing development models and the distributive and socio-environmental conflicts generated by them.

Exposure to Violence across the Social Ecosystem and the Development of Aggression: A Test of Ecological Theory in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

PubMed Central

Boxer, Paul; Huesmann, L. Rowell; Dubow, Eric F.; Landau, Simha F.; Gvirsman, Shira Dvir; Shikaki, Khalil; Ginges, Jeremy

2012-01-01

Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological model proposes that events in higher-order social ecosystems should influence human development through their impact on events in lower-order social ecosystems. This proposition was tested with respect to ecological violence and the development of children’s aggression via analyses of three waves of data (one wave yearly for three years) from three age cohorts (starting ages 8, 11, and 14) representing three populations in the Middle East: Palestinians (N = 600), Israeli Jews (N = 451), and Israeli Arabs (N = 450). Results supported a hypothesized model in which ethno-political violence increases community, family, and school violence and children’s aggression. Findings are discussed with respect to ecological and observational learning perspectives on the development of aggressive behavior. PMID:22906188

Resilience and challenges of marine social-ecological systems under complex and interconnected drivers.

PubMed

Villasante, Sebastián; Macho, Gonzalo; Antelo, Manel; Rodríguez-González, David; Kaiser, Michel J

2013-12-01

In this paper, we summarize the contributions made by an interdisciplinary group of researchers from different disciplines (biology, ecology, economics, and law) that deal with key dimensions of marine social-ecological systems. Particularly, the local and global seafood provision; the feasibility and management of marine protected areas; the use of marine ecosystem services; the institutional dimension in European fisheries, and the affordable models for providing scientific advice to small-scale fisheries. This Special Issue presents key findings from selected case studies around the world available to educators, policy makers, and the technical community. Together, these papers show that a range of diverse ecological, economic, social, and institutional components often mutually interact at spatial and temporal scales, which evidence that managing marine social-ecological systems needs a continuous adaptability to navigate into new governance systems.

Cooperation Is Not Enough—Exploring Social-Ecological Micro-Foundations for Sustainable Common-Pool Resource Use

PubMed Central

Wijermans, Nanda; Schlüter, Maja; Lindahl, Therese

2016-01-01

Cooperation amongst resource users holds the key to overcoming the social dilemma that characterizes community-based common-pool resource management. But is cooperation alone enough to achieve sustainable resource use? The short answer is no. Developing management strategies in a complex social-ecological environment also requires ecological knowledge and approaches to deal with perceived environmental uncertainty. Recent behavioral experimental research indicates variation in the degree to which a group of users can identify a sustainable exploitation level. In this paper, we identify social-ecological micro-foundations that facilitate cooperative sustainable common-pool resource use. We do so by using an agent-based model (ABM) that is informed by behavioral common-pool resource experiments. In these experiments, groups that cooperate do not necessarily manage the resource sustainably, but also over- or underexploit. By reproducing the patterns of the behavioral experiments in a qualitative way, the ABM represents a social-ecological explanation for the experimental observations. We find that the ecological knowledge of each group member cannot sufficiently explain the relationship between cooperation and sustainable resource use. Instead, the development of a sustainable exploitation level depends on the distribution of ecological knowledge among the group members, their influence on each other’s knowledge, and the environmental uncertainty the individuals perceive. The study provides insights about critical social-ecological micro-foundations underpinning collective action and sustainable resource management. These insights may inform policy-making, but also point to future research needs regarding the mechanisms of social learning, the development of shared management strategies and the interplay of social and ecological uncertainty. PMID:27556175

Cooperation Is Not Enough—Exploring Social-Ecological Micro-Foundations for Sustainable Common-Pool Resource Use [corrected].

PubMed

Schill, Caroline; Wijermans, Nanda; Schlüter, Maja; Lindahl, Therese

2016-01-01

Cooperation amongst resource users holds the key to overcoming the social dilemma that characterizes community-based common-pool resource management. But is cooperation alone enough to achieve sustainable resource use? The short answer is no. Developing management strategies in a complex social-ecological environment also requires ecological knowledge and approaches to deal with perceived environmental uncertainty. Recent behavioral experimental research indicates variation in the degree to which a group of users can identify a sustainable exploitation level. In this paper, we identify social-ecological micro-foundations that facilitate cooperative sustainable common-pool resource use. We do so by using an agent-based model (ABM) that is informed by behavioral common-pool resource experiments. In these experiments, groups that cooperate do not necessarily manage the resource sustainably, but also over- or underexploit. By reproducing the patterns of the behavioral experiments in a qualitative way, the ABM represents a social-ecological explanation for the experimental observations. We find that the ecological knowledge of each group member cannot sufficiently explain the relationship between cooperation and sustainable resource use. Instead, the development of a sustainable exploitation level depends on the distribution of ecological knowledge among the group members, their influence on each other's knowledge, and the environmental uncertainty the individuals perceive. The study provides insights about critical social-ecological micro-foundations underpinning collective action and sustainable resource management. These insights may inform policy-making, but also point to future research needs regarding the mechanisms of social learning, the development of shared management strategies and the interplay of social and ecological uncertainty.

Contact structure, mobility, environmental impact and behaviour: the importance of social forces to infectious disease dynamics and disease ecology.

PubMed

Arthur, Ronan F; Gurley, Emily S; Salje, Henrik; Bloomfield, Laura S P; Jones, James H

2017-05-05

Human factors, including contact structure, movement, impact on the environment and patterns of behaviour, can have significant influence on the emergence of novel infectious diseases and the transmission and amplification of established ones. As anthropogenic climate change alters natural systems and global economic forces drive land-use and land-cover change, it becomes increasingly important to understand both the ecological and social factors that impact infectious disease outcomes for human populations. While the field of disease ecology explicitly studies the ecological aspects of infectious disease transmission, the effects of the social context on zoonotic pathogen spillover and subsequent human-to-human transmission are comparatively neglected in the literature. The social sciences encompass a variety of disciplines and frameworks for understanding infectious diseases; however, here we focus on four primary areas of social systems that quantitatively and qualitatively contribute to infectious diseases as social-ecological systems. These areas are social mixing and structure, space and mobility, geography and environmental impact, and behaviour and behaviour change. Incorporation of these social factors requires empirical studies for parametrization, phenomena characterization and integrated theoretical modelling of social-ecological interactions. The social-ecological system that dictates infectious disease dynamics is a complex system rich in interacting variables with dynamically significant heterogeneous properties. Future discussions about infectious disease spillover and transmission in human populations need to address the social context that affects particular disease systems by identifying and measuring qualitatively important drivers.This article is part of the themed issue 'Opening the black box: re-examining the ecology and evolution of parasite transmission'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Political Violence and Child Adjustment in Northern Ireland: Testing Pathways in a Social-Ecological Model Including Single- and Two-Parent Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cummings, E. Mark; Schermerhorn, Alice C.; Merrilees, Christine E.; Goeke-Morey, Marcie C.; Shirlow, Peter; Cairns, Ed

2010-01-01

Moving beyond simply documenting that political violence negatively impacts children, we tested a social-ecological hypothesis for relations between political violence and child outcomes. Participants were 700 mother-child (M = 12.1 years, SD = 1.8) dyads from 18 working-class, socially deprived areas in Belfast, Northern Ireland, including…

Using the forest, people, fire agent-based social network model to investigate interactions in social-ecological systems

Treesearch

Paige Fischer; Adam Korejwa; Jennifer Koch; Thomas Spies; Christine Olsen; Eric White; Derric Jacobs

2013-01-01

Wildfire links social and ecological systems in dry-forest landscapes of the United States. The management of these landscapes, however, is bifurcated by two institutional cultures that have different sets of beliefs about wildfire, motivations for managing wildfire risk, and approaches to administering policy. Fire protection, preparedness, and response agencies often...

Identifying legal, ecological and governance obstacles and opportunities for adapting to climate change

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cosens, Barbara; Gunderson, Lance; Allen, Craig R.; Benson, Melinda H.

2014-01-01

Current governance of regional scale water management systems in the United States has not placed them on a path toward sustainability, as conflict and gridlock characterize the social arena and ecosystem services continue to erode. Changing climate may continue this trajectory, but it also provides a catalyst for renewal of ecosystems and a window of opportunity for change in institutions. Resilience provides a bridging concept that predicts that change in ecological and social systems is often dramatic, abrupt, and surprising. Adapting to the uncertainty of climate driven change must be done in a manner perceived as legitimate by the participants in a democratic society. Adaptation must begin with the current hierarchical and fragmented social-ecological system as a baseline from which new approaches must be applied. Achieving a level of integration between ecological concepts and governance requires a dialogue across multiple disciplines, including ecologists with expertise in ecological resilience, hydrologists and climate experts, with social scientists and legal scholars. Criteria and models that link ecological dynamics with policies in complex, multi-jurisdictional water basins with adaptive management and governance frameworks may move these social-ecological systems toward greater sustainability.

Exposure to violence across the social ecosystem and the development of aggression: a test of ecological theory in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

PubMed

Boxer, Paul; Rowell Huesmann, L; Dubow, Eric F; Landau, Simha F; Gvirsman, Shira Dvir; Shikaki, Khalil; Ginges, Jeremy

2013-01-01

Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model proposes that events in higher order social ecosystems should influence human development through their impact on events in lower order social ecosystems. This proposition was tested with respect to ecological violence and the development of children's aggression via analyses of 3 waves of data (1 wave yearly for 3 years) from 3 age cohorts (starting ages: 8, 11, and 14) representing three populations in the Middle East: Palestinians (N = 600), Israeli Jews (N = 451), and Israeli Arabs (N = 450). Results supported a hypothesized model in which ethnopolitical violence increases community, family, and school violence and children's aggression. Findings are discussed with respect to ecological and observational learning perspectives on the development of aggressive behavior. © 2012 The Authors. Child Development © 2012 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Agent-based modeling in ecological economics.

PubMed

Heckbert, Scott; Baynes, Tim; Reeson, Andrew

2010-01-01

Interconnected social and environmental systems are the domain of ecological economics, and models can be used to explore feedbacks and adaptations inherent in these systems. Agent-based modeling (ABM) represents autonomous entities, each with dynamic behavior and heterogeneous characteristics. Agents interact with each other and their environment, resulting in emergent outcomes at the macroscale that can be used to quantitatively analyze complex systems. ABM is contributing to research questions in ecological economics in the areas of natural resource management and land-use change, urban systems modeling, market dynamics, changes in consumer attitudes, innovation, and diffusion of technology and management practices, commons dilemmas and self-governance, and psychological aspects to human decision making and behavior change. Frontiers for ABM research in ecological economics involve advancing the empirical calibration and validation of models through mixed methods, including surveys, interviews, participatory modeling, and, notably, experimental economics to test specific decision-making hypotheses. Linking ABM with other modeling techniques at the level of emergent properties will further advance efforts to understand dynamics of social-environmental systems.

Benefits of using a Social-Ecological Systems Approach to ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Using a social-ecological systems (SES) perspective to examine wetland restoration helps decision-makers recognize interdependencies and relations between ecological and social components of coupled systems. Conceptual models are an invaluable tool to capture, visualize, and organize the key factors in complex social-ecological systems, but can be overwhelming to generate and lead to key concepts being overlooked if development is unstructured. Using a DPSIR approach (Drivers, Pressures, State, Impact, Responses), conceptual models can be developed to link decision scenarios and stressors to impacts on ecosystem services. These impacts on priority ecosystem services can then be linked to changes in human health and well-being through benefit functions. Expert input and contributions across disciplines provides appropriate temporal and spatial scales for determination of targets, project implementation, and monitoring strategies. This approach is being applied to create descriptive SES models of two wetland restoration projects. The first, the dredging of a degraded estuarine channel and restoration of mangrove forests in Caño Martìn Peña in San Juan, Puerto Rico is in the planning stage. The second, the restoration of a former cranberry farm in Plymouth, Massachusetts has completed a large restoration of freshwater wetland, and is gearing up for a second phase. Through the development of conceptual models, we are connecting driving forces wi

Contact structure, mobility, environmental impact and behaviour: the importance of social forces to infectious disease dynamics and disease ecology

PubMed Central

Gurley, Emily S.

2017-01-01

Human factors, including contact structure, movement, impact on the environment and patterns of behaviour, can have significant influence on the emergence of novel infectious diseases and the transmission and amplification of established ones. As anthropogenic climate change alters natural systems and global economic forces drive land-use and land-cover change, it becomes increasingly important to understand both the ecological and social factors that impact infectious disease outcomes for human populations. While the field of disease ecology explicitly studies the ecological aspects of infectious disease transmission, the effects of the social context on zoonotic pathogen spillover and subsequent human-to-human transmission are comparatively neglected in the literature. The social sciences encompass a variety of disciplines and frameworks for understanding infectious diseases; however, here we focus on four primary areas of social systems that quantitatively and qualitatively contribute to infectious diseases as social–ecological systems. These areas are social mixing and structure, space and mobility, geography and environmental impact, and behaviour and behaviour change. Incorporation of these social factors requires empirical studies for parametrization, phenomena characterization and integrated theoretical modelling of social–ecological interactions. The social–ecological system that dictates infectious disease dynamics is a complex system rich in interacting variables with dynamically significant heterogeneous properties. Future discussions about infectious disease spillover and transmission in human populations need to address the social context that affects particular disease systems by identifying and measuring qualitatively important drivers. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Opening the black box: re-examining the ecology and evolution of parasite transmission’. PMID:28289265

Transdisciplinary application of the cross-scale resilience model

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sundstrom, Shana M.; Angeler, David G.; Garmestani, Ahjond S.; Garcia, Jorge H.; Allen, Craig R.

2014-01-01

The cross-scale resilience model was developed in ecology to explain the emergence of resilience from the distribution of ecological functions within and across scales, and as a tool to assess resilience. We propose that the model and the underlying discontinuity hypothesis are relevant to other complex adaptive systems, and can be used to identify and track changes in system parameters related to resilience. We explain the theory behind the cross-scale resilience model, review the cases where it has been applied to non-ecological systems, and discuss some examples of social-ecological, archaeological/ anthropological, and economic systems where a cross-scale resilience analysis could add a quantitative dimension to our current understanding of system dynamics and resilience. We argue that the scaling and diversity parameters suitable for a resilience analysis of ecological systems are appropriate for a broad suite of systems where non-normative quantitative assessments of resilience are desired. Our planet is currently characterized by fast environmental and social change, and the cross-scale resilience model has the potential to quantify resilience across many types of complex adaptive systems.

The Evaluation of Land Ecological Safety of Chengchao Iron Mine Based on PSR and MEM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Xiangdong; Chen, Yong

2018-01-01

Land ecological security is of vital importance to local security and sustainable development of mining activities. The study has analyzed the potential causal chains between the land ecological security of Iron Mine mining environment, mine resource and the social-economic background. On the base of Pressure-State-Response model, the paper set up a matter element evaluation model of land ecological security, and applies it in Chengchao iron mine. The evaluation result proves to be effective in land ecological evaluation.

Health-promotion research over three decades: The social-ecological model and challenges in implementation of interventions.

PubMed

Wold, Bente; Mittelmark, Maurice B

2018-02-01

This debate paper traces the development of innovative methods for undertaking health promotion research with a socialecological orientation, with a few examples drawn from 30 years of research on adolescent health promotion research at the University of Bergen. We aim to show how the social-ecological model is becoming more evident as a guide to research, using three cases that illustrate progress and potential. The first case is the Norwegian part of the European Network of Health Promoting Schools. The second case is a project just underway, The COMPLETE study, which is a community-led effort to promote students' mental health and create a good psychosocial learning environment. The third case is a developing idea for the next generation of social-ecological research on adolescent well-being, using an asset approach to foster social inclusion and sense of community in multiple settings.

Annual Research Review: What is Resilience within the Social Ecology of Human Development?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ungar, Michael; Ghazinour, Mehdi; Richter, Jorg

2013-01-01

Background: The development of Bronfenbrenner's bio-social-ecological systems model of human development parallels advances made to the theory of resilience that progressively moved from a more individual (micro) focus on traits to a multisystemic understanding of person-environment reciprocal processes. Methods: This review uses…

A new quantitative model of ecological compensation based on ecosystem capital in Zhejiang Province, China*

PubMed Central

Jin, Yan; Huang, Jing-feng; Peng, Dai-liang

2009-01-01

Ecological compensation is becoming one of key and multidiscipline issues in the field of resources and environmental management. Considering the change relation between gross domestic product (GDP) and ecological capital (EC) based on remote sensing estimation, we construct a new quantitative estimate model for ecological compensation, using county as study unit, and determine standard value so as to evaluate ecological compensation from 2001 to 2004 in Zhejiang Province, China. Spatial differences of the ecological compensation were significant among all the counties or districts. This model fills up the gap in the field of quantitative evaluation of regional ecological compensation and provides a feasible way to reconcile the conflicts among benefits in the economic, social, and ecological sectors. PMID:19353749

A new quantitative model of ecological compensation based on ecosystem capital in Zhejiang Province, China.

PubMed

Jin, Yan; Huang, Jing-feng; Peng, Dai-liang

2009-04-01

Ecological compensation is becoming one of key and multidiscipline issues in the field of resources and environmental management. Considering the change relation between gross domestic product (GDP) and ecological capital (EC) based on remote sensing estimation, we construct a new quantitative estimate model for ecological compensation, using county as study unit, and determine standard value so as to evaluate ecological compensation from 2001 to 2004 in Zhejiang Province, China. Spatial differences of the ecological compensation were significant among all the counties or districts. This model fills up the gap in the field of quantitative evaluation of regional ecological compensation and provides a feasible way to reconcile the conflicts among benefits in the economic, social, and ecological sectors.

Culturally compelling strategies for behaviour change: a social ecology model and case study in malaria prevention.

PubMed

Panter-Brick, Catherine; Clarke, Sian E; Lomas, Heather; Pinder, Margaret; Lindsay, Steve W

2006-06-01

Behaviour change is notoriously difficult to initiate and sustain, and the reasons why efforts to promote healthy behaviours fail are coming under increasing scrutiny. To be successful, health interventions should build on existing practices, skills and priorities, recognise the constraints on human behaviour, and either feature community mobilisation or target those most receptive to change. Furthermore, interventions should strive to be culturally compelling, not merely culturally appropriate: they must engage local communities and nestle within social and ecological landscapes. In this paper, we propose a social ecology perspective to make explicit the links between intention to change, actual behaviour change, and subsequent health impact, as relating to both theory-based models and practical strategies for triggering behaviour change. A social ecology model focuses attention on the contexts of behaviour when designing, implementing or critically evaluating interventions. As a case study, we reflect on a community-directed intervention in rural Gambia designed to reduce malaria by promoting a relatively simple and low-cost behaviour: repairing holes in mosquito bednets. In phase 1, contextual information on bednet usage, transactions and repairs (the 'social lives' of nets) was documented. In phase 2 (intervention), songs were composed and posters displayed by community members to encourage repairs, creating a sense of ownership and a compelling medium for the transmission of health messages. In phase 3 (evaluation), qualitative and quantitative data showed that household responses were particularly rapid and extensive, with significant increase in bednet repairs (p<0.001), despite considerable constraints on human agency. We highlight a promising approach-using songs-as a vehicle for change, and present a framework to embed the design, implementation and critical evaluation of interventions within the larger context-or social ecology-of behaviour practices that are the bedrock of health interventions.

Interactions of social, terrestrial, and marine sub-systems in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.

PubMed

Walsh, Stephen J; Mena, Carlos F

2016-12-20

Galapagos is often cited as an example of the conflicts that are emerging between resource conservation and economic development in island ecosystems, as the pressures associated with tourism threaten nature, including the iconic and emblematic species, unique terrestrial landscapes, and special marine environments. In this paper, two projects are described that rely upon dynamic systems models and agent-based models to examine human-environment interactions. We use a theoretical context rooted in complexity theory to guide the development of our models that are linked to social-ecological dynamics. The goal of this paper is to describe key elements, relationships, and processes to inform and enhance our understanding of human-environment interactions in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador. By formalizing our knowledge of how systems operate and the manner in which key elements are linked in coupled human-natural systems, we specify rules, relationships, and rates of exchange between social and ecological features derived through statistical functions and/or functions specified in theory or practice. The processes described in our models also have practical applications in that they emphasize how political policies generate different human responses and model outcomes, many detrimental to the social-ecological sustainability of the Galapagos Islands.

INTEGRATION OF AN ECONOMY UNDER IMPERFECT COMPETITION WITH A TWELVE-CELL ECOLOGICAL MODEL

EPA Science Inventory

This report documents the scientific research work done to date on developing a generalized mathematical model depicting a combined economic-ecological-social system with the goal of making it available to the scientific community. The model is preliminary and has not been tested...

Social Ecological Approaches to Individuals and Their Contexts: Twenty Years of "Health Education & Behavior" Health Promotion Interventions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golden, Shelley D.; Earp, Jo Anne L.

2012-01-01

Social ecological models that describe the interactive characteristics of individuals and environments that underlie health outcomes have long been recommended to guide public health practice. The extent to which such recommendations have been applied in health promotion interventions, however, is unclear. The authors developed a coding system to…

How ecology shapes exploitation: a framework to predict the behavioural response of human and animal foragers along exploration-exploitation trade-offs.

PubMed

Monk, Christopher T; Barbier, Matthieu; Romanczuk, Pawel; Watson, James R; Alós, Josep; Nakayama, Shinnosuke; Rubenstein, Daniel I; Levin, Simon A; Arlinghaus, Robert

2018-06-01

Understanding how humans and other animals behave in response to changes in their environments is vital for predicting population dynamics and the trajectory of coupled social-ecological systems. Here, we present a novel framework for identifying emergent social behaviours in foragers (including humans engaged in fishing or hunting) in predator-prey contexts based on the exploration difficulty and exploitation potential of a renewable natural resource. A qualitative framework is introduced that predicts when foragers should behave territorially, search collectively, act independently or switch among these states. To validate it, we derived quantitative predictions from two models of different structure: a generic mathematical model, and a lattice-based evolutionary model emphasising exploitation and exclusion costs. These models independently identified that the exploration difficulty and exploitation potential of the natural resource controls the social behaviour of resource exploiters. Our theoretical predictions were finally compared to a diverse set of empirical cases focusing on fisheries and aquatic organisms across a range of taxa, substantiating the framework's predictions. Understanding social behaviour for given social-ecological characteristics has important implications, particularly for the design of governance structures and regulations to move exploited systems, such as fisheries, towards sustainability. Our framework provides concrete steps in this direction. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

A Novel Integrated Ecological Model for the study of Sustainability

EPA Science Inventory

In recent years, there has been a growing interest among various sections of the society in the study of sustainability. Recently, a generalized mathematical model depicting a combined economic-ecological-social system has been proposed to help in the formal study of sustainabili...

Design and Implementation Skills for Social Innovation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tornatzky, Louis G.; Fairweather, George W.

New models of research and training combined with dissemination techniques can contribute to relevant social change. The Ecological Psychology Program at Michigan State University, a graduate training program which focuses on model building and implementation research, offers ideas on the plausability of social programming. The process would…

Understanding the psychology of bullying: Moving toward a social-ecological diathesis-stress model.

PubMed

Swearer, Susan M; Hymel, Shelley

2015-01-01

With growing recognition that bullying is a complex phenomenon, influenced by multiple factors, research findings to date have been understood within a social-ecological framework. Consistent with this model, we review research on the known correlates and contributing factors in bullying/victimization within the individual, family, peer group, school and community. Recognizing the fluid and dynamic nature of involvement in bullying, we then expand on this model and consider research on the consequences of bullying involvement, as either victim or bully or both, and propose a social-ecological, diathesis-stress model for understanding the bullying dynamic and its impact. Specifically, we frame involvement in bullying as a stressful life event for both children who bully and those who are victimized, serving as a catalyst for a diathesis-stress connection between bullying, victimization, and psychosocial difficulties. Against this backdrop, we suggest that effective bullying prevention and intervention efforts must take into account the complexities of the human experience, addressing both individual characteristics and history of involvement in bullying, risk and protective factors, and the contexts in which bullying occurs, in order to promote healthier social relationships. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Social vulnerability from a social ecology perspective: a cohort study of older adults from the National Population Health Survey of Canada

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Numerous social factors, generally studied in isolation, have been associated with older adults’ health. Even so, older people’s social circumstances are complex and an approach which embraces this complexity is desirable. Here we investigate many social factors in relation to one another and to survival among older adults using a social ecology perspective to measure social vulnerability among older adults. Methods 2740 adults aged 65 and older were followed for ten years in the Canadian National Population Health Survey (NPHS). Twenty-three individual-level social variables were drawn from the 1994 NPHS and five Enumeration Area (EA)-level variables were abstracted from the 1996 Canadian Census using postal code linkage. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to identify dimensions of social vulnerability. All social variables were summed to create a social vulnerability index which was studied in relation to ten-year mortality. Results The PCA was limited by low variance (47%) explained by emergent factors. Seven dimensions of social vulnerability emerged in the most robust, yet limited, model: social support, engagement, living situation, self-esteem, sense of control, relations with others and contextual socio-economic status. These dimensions showed complex inter-relationships and were situated within a social ecology framework, considering spheres of influence from the individual through to group, neighbourhood and broader societal levels. Adjusting for age, sex, and frailty, increasing social vulnerability measured using the cumulative social vulnerability index was associated with increased risk of mortality over ten years in a Cox regression model (HR 1.04, 95% CI:1.01-1.07, p = 0.01). Conclusions Social vulnerability has important independent influence on older adults’ health though relationships between contributing variables are complex and do not lend themselves well to fragmentation into a small number of discrete factors. A social ecology perspective provides a candidate framework for further study of social vulnerability among older adults. PMID:25129548

The use of technology to promote vaccination: A social ecological model based framework.

PubMed

Kolff, Chelsea A; Scott, Vanessa P; Stockwell, Melissa S

2018-05-21

Vaccinations are an important and effective cornerstone of preventive medical care. Growing technologic capabilities and use by both patients and providers present critical opportunities to leverage these tools to improve vaccination rates and public health. We propose the Social Ecological Model as a useful theoretical framework to identify areas in which technology has been or may be leveraged to target undervaccination across the individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and society levels and the ways in which these levels interact.

[Urban ecological risk assessment: a review].

PubMed

Wang, Mei-E; Chen, Wei-Ping; Peng, Chi

2014-03-01

With the development of urbanization and the degradation of urban living environment, urban ecological risks caused by urbanization have attracted more and more attentions. Based on urban ecology principles and ecological risk assessment frameworks, contents of urban ecological risk assessment were reviewed in terms of driven forces, risk resources, risk receptors, endpoints and integrated approaches for risk assessment. It was suggested that types and degrees of urban economical and social activities were the driven forces for urban ecological risks. Ecological functional components at different levels in urban ecosystems as well as the urban system as a whole were the risk receptors. Assessment endpoints involved in changes of urban ecological structures, processes, functional components and the integrity of characteristic and function. Social-ecological models should be the major approaches for urban ecological risk assessment. Trends for urban ecological risk assessment study should focus on setting a definite protection target and criteria corresponding to assessment endpoints, establishing a multiple-parameter assessment system and integrative assessment approaches.

Open source and open content: A framework for global collaboration in social-ecological research

Treesearch

Charles Schweik; Tom Evans; J. Morgan Grove

2005-01-01

This paper discusses opportunities for alternative collaborative approaches for social-ecological research in general and, in this context, for modeling land-use/land-cover change. In this field, the rate of progress in academic research is steady but perhaps not as rapid or efficient as might be possible with alternative organizational frameworks. The convergence of...

Social-ecological outcomes in recreational fisheries: The interaction of lakeshore development and stocking

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ziegler, Jacob P.; Golebie, Elizabeth J.; Jones, Stuart E.; Weidel, Brian C.; Solomon, Christopher T.

2017-01-01

Many ecosystems continue to experience rapid transformations due to processes like land use change and resource extraction. A systems approach to maintaining natural resources focuses on how interactions and feedbacks among components of complex social‐ecological systems generate social and ecological outcomes. In recreational fisheries, residential shoreline development and fish stocking are two widespread human behaviors that influence fisheries, yet emergent social‐ecological outcomes from these potentially interacting behaviors remain under explored. We applied a social‐ecological systems framework using a simulation model and empirical data to determine whether lakeshore development is likely to promote stocking through its adverse effects on coarse woody habitat and thereby also on survival of juvenile and adult fish. We demonstrate that high lakeshore development is likely to generate dependency of the ecosystem on the social system, in the form of stocking. Further, lakeshore development can interact with social‐ecological processes to create deficits for state‐level governments, which threatens the ability to fund further ecosystem subsidies. Our results highlight the value of a social‐ecological framework for maintaining ecosystem services like recreational fisheries.

An Ecological Perspective on Deafness.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harvey, Michael A.; Dym, Barry

1988-01-01

The article offers an ecological view of deafness through identification of the hierarchically arranged, bio-psych-social levels which influence development and the sequences of interaction within and between levels. The organization of ecological fields is described by a cybernetic model from family therapy. A detailed case example is presented.…

Understanding the dynamics of sustainable social-ecological systems: human behavior, institutions, and regulatory feedback networks.

PubMed

Anderies, John M

2015-02-01

I present a general mathematical modeling framework that can provide a foundation for the study of sustainability in social- ecological systems (SESs). Using basic principles from feedback control and a sequence of specific models from bioeconomics and economic growth, I outline several mathematical and empirical challenges associated with the study of sustainability of SESs. These challenges are categorized into three classes: (1) the social choice of performance measures, (2) uncertainty, and (3) collective action. Finally, I present some opportunities for combining stylized dynamical systems models with empirical data on human behavior and biophysical systems to address practical challenges for the design of effective governance regimes (policy feedbacks) for highly uncertain natural resource systems.

Toward an Integrative Understanding of Social Behavior: New Models and New Opportunities

PubMed Central

Blumstein, Daniel T.; Ebensperger, Luis A.; Hayes, Loren D.; Vásquez, Rodrigo A.; Ahern, Todd H.; Burger, Joseph Robert; Dolezal, Adam G.; Dosmann, Andy; González-Mariscal, Gabriela; Harris, Breanna N.; Herrera, Emilio A.; Lacey, Eileen A.; Mateo, Jill; McGraw, Lisa A.; Olazábal, Daniel; Ramenofsky, Marilyn; Rubenstein, Dustin R.; Sakhai, Samuel A.; Saltzman, Wendy; Sainz-Borgo, Cristina; Soto-Gamboa, Mauricio; Stewart, Monica L.; Wey, Tina W.; Wingfield, John C.; Young, Larry J.

2010-01-01

Social interactions among conspecifics are a fundamental and adaptively significant component of the biology of numerous species. Such interactions give rise to group living as well as many of the complex forms of cooperation and conflict that occur within animal groups. Although previous conceptual models have focused on the ecological causes and fitness consequences of variation in social interactions, recent developments in endocrinology, neuroscience, and molecular genetics offer exciting opportunities to develop more integrated research programs that will facilitate new insights into the physiological causes and consequences of social variation. Here, we propose an integrative framework of social behavior that emphasizes relationships between ultimate-level function and proximate-level mechanism, thereby providing a foundation for exploring the full diversity of factors that underlie variation in social interactions, and ultimately sociality. In addition to identifying new model systems for the study of human psychopathologies, this framework provides a mechanistic basis for predicting how social behavior will change in response to environmental variation. We argue that the study of non-model organisms is essential for implementing this integrative model of social behavior because such species can be studied simultaneously in the lab and field, thereby allowing integration of rigorously controlled experimental manipulations with detailed observations of the ecological contexts in which interactions among conspecifics occur. PMID:20661457

Listening to food workers: Factors that impact proper health and hygiene practice in food service.

PubMed

Clayton, Megan L; Clegg Smith, Katherine; Neff, Roni A; Pollack, Keshia M; Ensminger, Margaret

2015-01-01

Foodborne disease is a significant problem worldwide. Research exploring sources of outbreaks indicates a pronounced role for food workers' improper health and hygiene practice. To investigate food workers' perceptions of factors that impact proper food safety practice. Interviews with food service workers in Baltimore, MD, USA discussing food safety practices and factors that impact implementation in the workplace. A social ecological model organizes multiple levels of influence on health and hygiene behavior. Issues raised by interviewees include factors across the five levels of the social ecological model, and confirm findings from previous work. Interviews also reveal many factors not highlighted in prior work, including issues with food service policies and procedures, working conditions (e.g., pay and benefits), community resources, and state and federal policies. Food safety interventions should adopt an ecological orientation that accounts for factors at multiple levels, including workers' social and structural context, that impact food safety practice.

Divergence of developmental trajectories is triggered interactively by early social and ecological experience in a cooperative breeder

PubMed Central

Bohn, Lena; Oberhummer, Evelyne

2017-01-01

Cooperative breeders feature the highest level of social complexity among vertebrates. Environmental constraints foster the evolution of this form of social organization, selecting for both well-developed social and ecological competences. Cooperative breeders pursue one of two alternative social trajectories: delaying reproduction to care for the offspring of dominant breeders or dispersing early to breed independently. It is yet unclear which ecological and social triggers determine the choice between these alternatives and whether diverging developmental trajectories exist in cooperative vertebrates predisposing them to dispersal or philopatry. Here we experimentally reared juveniles of cooperatively breeding cichlid fish by varying the social environment and simulated predation threat in a two-by-two factorial long-term experiment. First, we show that individuals develop specialized behavioral competences, originating already in the early postnatal phase. Second, these specializations predisposed individuals to pursue different developmental trajectories and either to disperse early or to extend philopatry in adulthood. Thus, our results contrast with the proposition that social specializations in early ontogeny should be restricted to eusocial species. Importantly, social and ecological triggers were both required for the generation of divergent life histories. Our results thus confirm recent predictions from theoretical models that organisms should combine relevant information from different environmental cues to develop integrated phenotypes. PMID:29078289

Social niche specialization under constraints: personality, social interactions and environmental heterogeneity

PubMed Central

Montiglio, Pierre-Olivier; Ferrari, Caterina; Réale, Denis

2013-01-01

Several personality traits are mainly expressed in a social context, and others, which are not restricted to a social context, can be affected by the social interactions with conspecifics. In this paper, we focus on the recently proposed hypothesis that social niche specialization (i.e. individuals in a population occupy different social roles) can explain the maintenance of individual differences in personality. We first present ecological and social niche specialization hypotheses. In particular, we show how niche specialization can be quantified and highlight the link between personality differences and social niche specialization. We then review some ecological factors (e.g. competition and environmental heterogeneity) and the social mechanisms (e.g. frequency-dependent, state-dependent and social awareness) that may be associated with the evolution of social niche specialization and personality differences. Finally, we present a conceptual model and methods to quantify the contribution of ecological factors and social mechanisms to the dynamics between personality and social roles. In doing so, we suggest a series of research objectives to help empirical advances in this research area. Throughout this paper, we highlight empirical studies of social niche specialization in mammals, where available. PMID:23569291

Social Ecological Perspectives of Tube-Feeding Older Adults with Advanced Dementia: A Systematic Literature Review.

PubMed

Douglas, Joy W; Lawrence, Jeannine C; Turner, Lori W

2017-01-01

Dementia is a progressive, debilitating disease that often results in weight loss, malnutrition, and dehydration. Feeding tubes are often prescribed; however, this practice can lead to complications. The purpose of this systematic review was to examine the use of feeding tubes in elderly demented patients from a social ecological perspective. Results indicated that family members often receive inadequate decision-making education. Many health care professionals lack knowledge of evidence-based guidelines pertaining to feeding tube use. Organizational and financial reimbursement structures influence feeding tube use. Feeding practices for patients with advanced dementia is a complex issue, warranting approaches that target each level of the Social Ecological Model.

Social Science Perspectives on Vocational Rehabilitation--A Symposium.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stubbins, Joseph, Ed.

1984-01-01

Nine author-contributed papers focus on social science perspectives of vocational rehabilitation. Papers address issues related to history, psychological perspectives, ideologies of clinical and ecological models, economics, social policy, political science, phenomenology, cross-cultural studies, and vocational rehabilitation as a social science.…

Cultural Considerations in Advising Latino/a Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Negroni-Rodriguez, Lirio K.; Dicks, Barbara A.; Morales, Julio

2006-01-01

This paper presents a model for advising Latino/a students in graduate social work programs. The model is based on ecological-systemic and empowerment theory and ascribes to the social work values and cultural competence standards proposed by the National Association of Social Workers. It has been developed within an institution that has sought…

The Social Ecological Model as a Framework for Determinants of 2009 H1N1 Influenza Vaccine Uptake in the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kumar, Supriya; Quinn, Sandra Crouse; Kim, Kevin H.; Musa, Donald; Hilyard, Karen M.; Freimuth, Vicki S.

2012-01-01

Research on influenza vaccine uptake has focused largely on intrapersonal determinants (perceived risk, past vaccine acceptance, perceived vaccine safety) and on physician recommendation. The authors used a social ecological framework to examine influenza vaccine uptake during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Surveying an adult population (n = 2,079) in…

Is sociality required for the evolution of communicative complexity? Evidence weighed against alternative hypotheses in diverse taxonomic groups

PubMed Central

Ord, Terry J.; Garcia-Porta, Joan

2012-01-01

Complex social communication is expected to evolve whenever animals engage in many and varied social interactions; that is, sociality should promote communicative complexity. Yet, informal comparisons among phylogenetically independent taxonomic groups seem to cast doubt on the putative role of social factors in the evolution of complex communication. Here, we provide a formal test of the sociality hypothesis alongside alternative explanations for the evolution of communicative complexity. We compiled data documenting variations in signal complexity among closely related species for several case study groups—ants, frogs, lizards and birds—and used new phylogenetic methods to investigate the factors underlying communication evolution. Social factors were only implicated in the evolution of complex visual signals in lizards. Ecology, and to some degree allometry, were most likely explanations for complexity in the vocal signals of frogs (ecology) and birds (ecology and allometry). There was some evidence for adaptive evolution in the pheromone complexity of ants, although no compelling selection pressure was identified. For most taxa, phylogenetic null models were consistently ranked above adaptive models and, for some taxa, signal complexity seems to have accumulated in species via incremental or random changes over long periods of evolutionary time. Becoming social presumably leads to the origin of social communication in animals, but its subsequent influence on the trajectory of signal evolution has been neither clear-cut nor general among taxonomic groups. PMID:22641820

First insights into the social organisation of Goodman's mouse lemur (Microcebus lehilahytsara)--testing predictions from socio-ecological hypotheses in the Masoala hall of Zurich Zoo.

PubMed

Jürges, Vivian; Kitzler, Johanne; Zingg, Robert; Radespiel, Ute

2013-01-01

Following current socio-ecological hypotheses, the social organisation of a species is mainly determined by resource quality and distribution. In the case of Microcebus spp., a taxon-specific socio-ecological model was formulated earlier to explain their variable social organisation. The aim of this study was to test predictions from this model in Goodman's mouse lemur based on a data set from animals living in the semi-free colony of Zurich Zoo. During a 2-month study, we observed 5 females and 5 males using radiotelemetry. We collected data on space use and social behaviour, on sleeping sites and on sleeping group composition. Predictions were only partly confirmed. As expected, Goodman's mouse lemurs were solitary foragers with an increased level of sociality due to crowding effects at the feeding stations. In contrast to the prediction, females and males formed unisexual sleeping groups, which were stable in females and of a fission-fusion type in males. Whereas the formation of sleeping groups by both sexes may be triggered by thermoregulatory benefits, the formation of unisexual sleeping groups may result from divergent interests of the sexes. We conclude that the existing model for the evolution of mouse lemur social organisation needs to be refined. Copyright © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Simulating social-ecological systems: the Island Digital Ecosystem Avatars (IDEA) consortium.

PubMed

Davies, Neil; Field, Dawn; Gavaghan, David; Holbrook, Sally J; Planes, Serge; Troyer, Matthias; Bonsall, Michael; Claudet, Joachim; Roderick, George; Schmitt, Russell J; Zettler, Linda Amaral; Berteaux, Véronique; Bossin, Hervé C; Cabasse, Charlotte; Collin, Antoine; Deck, John; Dell, Tony; Dunne, Jennifer; Gates, Ruth; Harfoot, Mike; Hench, James L; Hopuare, Marania; Kirch, Patrick; Kotoulas, Georgios; Kosenkov, Alex; Kusenko, Alex; Leichter, James J; Lenihan, Hunter; Magoulas, Antonios; Martinez, Neo; Meyer, Chris; Stoll, Benoit; Swalla, Billie; Tartakovsky, Daniel M; Murphy, Hinano Teavai; Turyshev, Slava; Valdvinos, Fernanda; Williams, Rich; Wood, Spencer

2016-01-01

Systems biology promises to revolutionize medicine, yet human wellbeing is also inherently linked to healthy societies and environments (sustainability). The IDEA Consortium is a systems ecology open science initiative to conduct the basic scientific research needed to build use-oriented simulations (avatars) of entire social-ecological systems. Islands are the most scientifically tractable places for these studies and we begin with one of the best known: Moorea, French Polynesia. The Moorea IDEA will be a sustainability simulator modeling links and feedbacks between climate, environment, biodiversity, and human activities across a coupled marine-terrestrial landscape. As a model system, the resulting knowledge and tools will improve our ability to predict human and natural change on Moorea and elsewhere at scales relevant to management/conservation actions.

The South Florida Ecosystem Portfolio Model - A Map-Based Multicriteria Ecological, Economic, and Community Land-Use Planning Tool

USGS Publications Warehouse

Labiosa, William B.; Bernknopf, Richard; Hearn, Paul; Hogan, Dianna; Strong, David; Pearlstine, Leonard; Mathie, Amy M.; Wein, Anne M.; Gillen, Kevin; Wachter, Susan

2009-01-01

The South Florida Ecosystem Portfolio Model (EPM) prototype is a regional land-use planning Web tool that integrates ecological, economic, and social information and values of relevance to decision-makers and stakeholders. The EPM uses a multicriteria evaluation framework that builds on geographic information system-based (GIS) analysis and spatially-explicit models that characterize important ecological, economic, and societal endpoints and consequences that are sensitive to regional land-use/land-cover (LULC) change. The EPM uses both economics (monetized) and multiattribute utility (nonmonetized) approaches to valuing these endpoints and consequences. This hybrid approach represents a methodological middle ground between rigorous economic and ecological/ environmental scientific approaches. The EPM sacrifices some degree of economic- and ecological-forecasting precision to gain methodological transparency, spatial explicitness, and transferability, while maintaining credibility. After all, even small steps in the direction of including ecosystem services evaluation are an improvement over current land-use planning practice (Boyd and Wainger, 2003). There are many participants involved in land-use decision-making in South Florida, including local, regional, State, and Federal agencies, developers, environmental groups, agricultural groups, and other stakeholders (South Florida Regional Planning Council, 2003, 2004). The EPM's multicriteria evaluation framework is designed to cut across the objectives and knowledge bases of all of these participants. This approach places fundamental importance on social equity and stakeholder participation in land-use decision-making, but makes no attempt to determine normative socially 'optimal' land-use plans. The EPM is thus a map-based set of evaluation tools for planners and stakeholders to use in their deliberations of what is 'best', considering a balancing of disparate interests within a regional perspective. Although issues of regional ecological sustainability can be explored with the EPM (for example, changes in biodiversity potential and regional habitat fragmentation), it does not attempt to define or evaluate long-term ecological sustainability as such. Instead, the EPM is intended to provide transparent first-order indications of the direction of ecological, economic, and community change, not to make detailed predictions of ecological, economic, and social outcomes. In short, the EPM is an attempt to widen the perspectives of its users by integrating natural and social scientific information in a framework that recognizes the diversity of values at stake in South Florida land-use planning. For terrestrial ecosystems, land-cover change is one of the most important direct drivers of changes in ecosystem services (Hassan and others, 2005). More specifically, the fragmentation of habitat from expanding low-density development across landscapes appears to be a major driver of terrestrial species decline and the impairment of terrestrial ecosystem integrity, in some cases causing irreversible impairment from a land-use planning perspective (Brody, 2008; Peck, 1998). Many resource managers and land-use planners have come to realize that evaluating land-use conversions on a parcel-by-parcel basis leads to a fragmented and narrow view of the regional effects of natural land-cover loss to development (Marsh and Lallas, 1995). The EPM is an attempt to integrate important aspects of the coupled natural-system/human-system view from a regional planning perspective. The EPM evaluates proposed land-use changes, both conversion and intensification, in terms of relevant ecological, economic, and social criteria that combine information about probable land-use outcomes, based on ecological and environmental models, as well as value judgments, as expressed in user-modifiable preference models. Based on on-going meetings and interviews with stakeholders and potential tool users we foc

Inference of ecological and social drivers of human brain-size evolution.

PubMed

González-Forero, Mauricio; Gardner, Andy

2018-05-01

The human brain is unusually large. It has tripled in size from Australopithecines to modern humans 1 and has become almost six times larger than expected for a placental mammal of human size 2 . Brains incur high metabolic costs 3 and accordingly a long-standing question is why the large human brain has evolved 4 . The leading hypotheses propose benefits of improved cognition for overcoming ecological 5-7 , social 8-10 or cultural 11-14 challenges. However, these hypotheses are typically assessed using correlative analyses, and establishing causes for brain-size evolution remains difficult 15,16 . Here we introduce a metabolic approach that enables causal assessment of social hypotheses for brain-size evolution. Our approach yields quantitative predictions for brain and body size from formalized social hypotheses given empirical estimates of the metabolic costs of the brain. Our model predicts the evolution of adult Homo sapiens-sized brains and bodies when individuals face a combination of 60% ecological, 30% cooperative and 10% between-group competitive challenges, and suggests that between-individual competition has been unimportant for driving human brain-size evolution. Moreover, our model indicates that brain expansion in Homo was driven by ecological rather than social challenges, and was perhaps strongly promoted by culture. Our metabolic approach thus enables causal assessments that refine, refute and unify hypotheses of brain-size evolution.

Bridging the theoretical divide in Holocene landscape studies: social and ecological approaches to ancient Oaxacan landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joyce, Arthur A.; Goman, Michelle

2012-11-01

In this article we discuss two theoretical approaches to landscape studies in archaeology: the ecological and social/symbolic. We suggest that an integrated approach can provide a more effective means through which archaeologists and earth scientists can model the complex interplay between people and the environment. Our perspective views peoples' engagements with the landscape as simultaneously ecological and social, material and symbolic. To illustrate this synthetic approach we discuss our research from the highland and lowland regions of the Mexican state of Oaxaca using archaeological, ethnographic, ethnohistorical, paleoecological, and geomorphological data. In highland Oaxaca we examine the ways in which political and religious principles were embedded in the landscape as well as the social, symbolic, and material dimensions of anthropogenic landscape change during the Formative period. For the coastal lowlands, we discuss the social and ecological implications of the transition to sedentism and the effects of anthropogenic landscape change during the Formative period. We also examine the interplay between politics and land use during the Classic and Postclassic periods.

The Social Ecological Challenges of Rural Victim Advocacy: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGrath, Shelly A.; Johnson, Melencia; Miller, Michelle Hughes

2012-01-01

This article re-centers an ecological model traditionally used to understand the experiences of interpersonal violence victims around the perceptions and experiences of victim advocates. We suggest that the development of such a model might shed light on rural-urban differences in the accessibility and availability of support services in rural…

Model of Environmental Development of the Urbanized Areas: Accounting of Ecological and other Factors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abanina, E. N.; Pandakov, K. G.; Agapov, D. A.; Sorokina, Yu V.; Vasiliev, E. H.

2017-05-01

Modern cities and towns are often characterized by poor administration, which could be the reason of environmental degradation, the poverty growth, decline in economic growth and social isolation. In these circumstances it is really important to conduct fresh researches forming new ways of sustainable development of administrative districts. This development of the urban areas depends on many interdependent factors: ecological, economic, social. In this article we show some theoretical aspects of forming a model of environmental progress of the urbanized areas. We submit some model containing four levels including natural resources capacities of the territory, its social features, economic growth and human impact. The author describes the interrelations of elements of the model. In this article the program of environmental development of a city is offered and it could be used in any urban area.

Social and genetic structure of paper wasp cofoundress associations: tests of reproductive skew models.

PubMed

Field, J; Solís, C R; Queller, D C; Strassmann, J E

1998-06-01

Recent models postulate that the members of a social group assess their ecological and social environments and agree a "social contract" of reproductive partitioning (skew). We tested social contracts theory by using DNA microsatellites to measure skew in 24 cofoundress associations of paper wasps, Polistes bellicosus. In contrast to theoretical predictions, there was little variation in cofoundress relatedness, and relatedness either did not predict skew or was negatively correlated with it; the dominant/subordinate size ratio, assumed to reflect relative fighting ability, did not predict skew; and high skew was associated with decreased aggression by the rank 2 subordinate toward the dominant. High skew was associated with increased group size. A difficulty with measuring skew in real systems is the frequent changes in group composition that commonly occur in social animals. In P. bellicosus, 61% of egg layers and an unknown number of non-egg layers were absent by the time nests were collected. The social contracts models provide an attractive general framework linking genetics, ecology, and behavior, but there have been few direct tests of their predictions. We question assumptions underlying the models and suggest directions for future research.

Sustainable use of renewable resources in a stylized social-ecological network model under heterogeneous resource distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barfuss, Wolfram; Donges, Jonathan F.; Wiedermann, Marc; Lucht, Wolfgang

2017-04-01

Human societies depend on the resources ecosystems provide. Particularly since the last century, human activities have transformed the relationship between nature and society at a global scale. We study this coevolutionary relationship by utilizing a stylized model of private resource use and social learning on an adaptive network. The latter process is based on two social key dynamics beyond economic paradigms: boundedly rational imitation of resource use strategies and homophily in the formation of social network ties. The private and logistically growing resources are harvested with either a sustainable (small) or non-sustainable (large) effort. We show that these social processes can have a profound influence on the environmental state, such as determining whether the private renewable resources collapse from overuse or not. Additionally, we demonstrate that heterogeneously distributed regional resource capacities shift the critical social parameters where this resource extraction system collapses. We make these points to argue that, in more advanced coevolutionary models of the planetary social-ecological system, such socio-cultural phenomena as well as regional resource heterogeneities should receive attention in addition to the processes represented in established Earth system and integrated assessment models.

Identifying socio-ecological networks in rural-urban gradients: Diagnosis of a changing cultural landscape.

PubMed

Arnaiz-Schmitz, C; Schmitz, M F; Herrero-Jáuregui, C; Gutiérrez-Angonese, J; Pineda, F D; Montes, C

2018-01-15

Socio-ecological systems maintain reciprocal interactions between biophysical and socioeconomic structures. As a result of these interactions key essential services for society emerge. Urban expansion is a direct driver of land change and cause serious shifts in socio-ecological relationships and the associated lifestyles. The framework of rural-urban gradients has proved to be a powerful tool for ecological research about urban influences on ecosystems and on sociological issues related to social welfare. However, to date there has not been an attempt to achieve a classification of municipalities in rural-urban gradients based on socio-ecological interactions. In this paper, we developed a methodological approach that allows identifying and classifying a set of socio-ecological network configurations in the Region of Madrid, a highly dynamic cultural landscape considered one of the European hotspots in urban development. According to their socio-ecological links, the integrated model detects four groups of municipalities, ordered along a rural-urban gradient, characterized by their degree of biophysical and socioeconomic coupling and different indicators of landscape structure and social welfare. We propose the developed model as a useful tool to improve environmental management schemes and land planning from a socio-ecological perspective, especially in territories subject to intense urban transformations and loss of rurality. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Integrating Social Science into the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network: Social Dimensions of Ecological Change and Ecological Dimensions of Social Change

Treesearch

Charles L. Redman; J. Morgan Grove; Lauren H. Kuby; Lauren H. Kuby

2004-01-01

The integration of the social sciences into long-term ecological research is an urgent priority. To address this need, a group of social, earth, and life scientists associated with the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network have articulated a conceptual framework for understanding the human dimensions of ecological change...

Social ecology of child soldiers: child, family, and community determinants of mental health, psychosocial well-being, and reintegration in Nepal.

PubMed

Kohrt, Brandon A; Jordans, Mark J D; Tol, Wietse A; Perera, Em; Karki, Rohit; Koirala, Suraj; Upadhaya, Nawaraj

2010-11-01

This study employed a social ecology framework to evaluate psychosocial well-being in a cross-sectional sample of 142 former child soldiers in Nepal. Outcome measures included the Depression Self Rating Scale (DSRS), Child Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Scale (CPSS), and locally developed measures of functional impairment and reintegration. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine the contribution of factors at multiple levels. At the child level, traumatic exposures, especially torture, predicted poor outcomes, while education improved outcomes. At the family level, conflict-related death of a relative, physical abuse in the household, and loss of wealth during the conflict predicted poor outcomes. At the community level, living in high caste Hindu communities predicted lack of reintegration supports. Ultimately, social ecology is well suited to identify intervention foci across ecological levels based on community differences in vulnerability and protective factors.

Early Warning Signals of Social Transformation: A Case Study from the US Southwest.

PubMed

Spielmann, Katherine A; Peeples, Matthew A; Glowacki, Donna M; Dugmore, Andrew

2016-01-01

Recent research in ecology suggests that generic indicators, referred to as early warning signals (EWS), may occur before significant transformations, both critical and non-critical, in complex systems. Up to this point, research on EWS has largely focused on simple models and controlled experiments in ecology and climate science. When humans are considered in these arenas they are invariably seen as external sources of disturbance or management. In this article we explore ways to include societal components of socio-ecological systems directly in EWS analysis. Given the growing archaeological literature on 'collapses,' or transformations, in social systems, we investigate whether any early warning signals are apparent in the archaeological records of the build-up to two contemporaneous cases of social transformation in the prehistoric US Southwest, Mesa Verde and Zuni. The social transformations in these two cases differ in scope and severity, thus allowing us to explore the contexts under which warning signals may (or may not) emerge. In both cases our results show increasing variance in settlement size before the transformation, but increasing variance in social institutions only before the critical transformation in Mesa Verde. In the Zuni case, social institutions appear to have managed the process of significant social change. We conclude that variance is of broad relevance in anticipating social change, and the capacity of social institutions to mitigate transformation is critical to consider in EWS research on socio-ecological systems.

An ecological public health approach to understanding the relationships between sustainable urban environments, public health and social equity.

PubMed

Bentley, Michael

2014-09-01

The environmental determinants of public health and social equity present many challenges to a sustainable urbanism-climate change, water shortages and oil dependency to name a few. There are many pathways from urban environments to human health. Numerous links have been described but some underlying mechanisms behind these relationships are less understood. Combining theory and methods is a way of understanding and explaining how the underlying structures of urban environments relate to public health and social equity. This paper proposes a model for an ecological public health, which can be used to explore these relationships. Four principles of an ecological public health-conviviality, equity, sustainability and global responsibility-are used to derive theoretical concepts that can inform ecological public health thinking, which, among other things, provides a way of exploring the underlying mechanisms that link urban environments to public health and social equity. Theories of more-than-human agency inform ways of living together (conviviality) in urban areas. Political ecology links the equity concerns about environmental and social justice. Resilience thinking offers a better way of coming to grips with sustainability. Integrating ecological ethics into public health considers the global consequences of local urban living and thus attends to global responsibility. This way of looking at the relationships between urban environments, public health and social equity answers the call to craft an ecological public health for the twenty-first century by re-imagining public health in a way that acknowledges humans as part of the ecosystem, not separate from it, though not central to it. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Contributions of cultural services to the ecosystem services agenda

PubMed Central

Daniel, Terry C.; Muhar, Andreas; Arnberger, Arne; Aznar, Olivier; Boyd, James W.; Chan, Kai M. A.; Costanza, Robert; Elmqvist, Thomas; Flint, Courtney G.; Gobster, Paul H.; Grêt-Regamey, Adrienne; Lave, Rebecca; Muhar, Susanne; Penker, Marianne; Ribe, Robert G.; Schauppenlehner, Thomas; Sikor, Thomas; Soloviy, Ihor; Spierenburg, Marja; Taczanowska, Karolina; Tam, Jordan; von der Dunk, Andreas

2012-01-01

Cultural ecosystem services (ES) are consistently recognized but not yet adequately defined or integrated within the ES framework. A substantial body of models, methods, and data relevant to cultural services has been developed within the social and behavioral sciences before and outside of the ES approach. A selective review of work in landscape aesthetics, cultural heritage, outdoor recreation, and spiritual significance demonstrates opportunities for operationally defining cultural services in terms of socioecological models, consistent with the larger set of ES. Such models explicitly link ecological structures and functions with cultural values and benefits, facilitating communication between scientists and stakeholders and enabling economic, multicriterion, deliberative evaluation and other methods that can clarify tradeoffs and synergies involving cultural ES. Based on this approach, a common representation is offered that frames cultural services, along with all ES, by the relative contribution of relevant ecological structures and functions and by applicable social evaluation approaches. This perspective provides a foundation for merging ecological and social science epistemologies to define and integrate cultural services better within the broader ES framework. PMID:22615401

Exploring Pattern of Socialisation Conditions and Human Development by Nonlinear Multivariate Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grundmann, Matthias

Following the assumptions of ecological socialization research, adequate analysis of socialization conditions must take into account the multilevel and multivariate structure of social factors that impact on human development. This statement implies that complex models of family configurations or of socialization factors are needed to explain the…

Transdisciplinary Application of Cross-Scale Resilience ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The cross-scale resilience model was developed in ecology to explain the emergence of resilience from the distribution of ecological functions within and across scales, and as a tool to assess resilience. We propose that the model and the underlyingdiscontinuity hypothesis are relevant to other complex adaptive systems, and can be used to identify and track changes in system parameters related to resilience. We explain the theory behind the cross-scale resilience model, review the cases where it has been applied to non-ecological systems, and discuss some examples of social-ecological, archaeological/anthropological, and economic systems where a cross-scale resilience analysis could add a quantitative dimension to our current understanding of system dynamics and resilience. We argue that the scaling and diversity parameters suitable for a resilience analysis of ecological systems are appropriate for a broad suite of systems where non-normative quantitative assessments of resilience are desired. Our planet is currently characterized by fast environmental and social change, and the cross-scale resilience model has the potential to quantify resilience across many types of complex adaptive systems. Comparative analyses of complex systems have, in fact, demonstrated commonalities among distinctly different types of systems (Schneider & Kay 1994; Holling 2001; Lansing 2003; Foster 2005; Bullmore et al. 2009). Both biological and non-biological complex systems appear t

Models and Muddles in Human Ecology: An Examination of High School Crime Rates. Report No. 255.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gottfredson, Gary D.

Recent research in the human ecological tradition has made increasing use of causal modeling in the search for understanding of aggregate-level social processes. This approach has great appeal because it helps make hypotheses explicit, provides a convenient way to structure the application of statistical controls, allows the representation of…

An ecological perspective on smoking among Asian American college students: the roles of social smoking and smoking motives.

PubMed

Otsuki, Michiko; Tinsley, Barbara J; Chao, Ruth K; Unger, Jennifer B

2008-12-01

Using electronic diaries, the present study examined the roles of social smoking and smoking motives in relation to cigarette use patterns among Asian American college smokers. Multilevel modeling results showed that participants smoked more cigarettes when smoking with peers than when smoking alone. Participants' coping (but not social) motives moderated the within-person associations between smoking with peers and the cigarettes smoked during a smoking episode. The findings support the utility of an ecological perspective in examining the dynamic interaction between smoking motives and the social settings of cigarette use, and call for further research on the social smoking behaviors in diverse populations. 2008 APA, all rights reserved

Treating powerless minorities through an ecosystem approach.

PubMed

Chung, W S; Pardeck, J T

1997-01-01

An ecological approach to social work practice for a minority based on an ecosystem-oriented assessment-intervention model is presented. Strengths and limitations of the ecological perspective for practice are emphasized (in the context of power dynamics). A case study is presented.

[Calculation model of urban water resources ecological footprint and its application: a case study in Shenyang City of Northeast China].

PubMed

Wang, Jian; Zhang, Chao-Xing; Yu, Ying-Tan; Li, Fa-Yun; Ma, Fang

2012-08-01

Water resources ecological footprint can directly reflect the pressure of human social and economic activities to water resources, and provide important reference for the rational utilization of water resources. Based on the existing ecological footprint models and giving full consideration of the water resources need of urban ecological system, this paper established a new calculation model of urban water resources ecological footprint, including domestic water account, process water account, public service water account, and ecological water requirement account. According to the actual situation of Shenyang City, the key parameters of the model were determined, and the water resources ecological footprint and ecological carrying capacity of the City were calculated and analyzed. From 2000 to 2009, the water resources ecological footprint per capita of the City presented an overall decreasing trend, but still had an annual ecological deficit. As compared to that in 2000, the water resources ecological footprint per capita was decreased to 0.31 hm2 in 2005, increased slightly in 2006 and 2007, and remained stable in 2008 and 2009, which suggested that the sustainable utilization of water resources in Shenyang City had definite improvement, but was still in an unsustainable development situation.

Social Competence in Pediatric Brain Tumor Survivors: Application of a Model from Social Neuroscience and Developmental Psychology

PubMed Central

Hocking, Matthew C.; McCurdy, Mark; Turner, Elise; Kazak, Anne E.; Noll, Robert B.; Phillips, Peter; Barakat, Lamia P.

2014-01-01

Pediatric brain tumor (BT) survivors are at risk for psychosocial late effects across many domains of functioning, including neurocognitive and social. The literature on the social competence of pediatric BT survivors is still developing and future research is needed that integrates developmental and cognitive neuroscience research methodologies to identify predictors of survivor social adjustment and interventions to ameliorate problems. This review discusses the current literature on survivor social functioning through a model of social competence in childhood brain disorder and suggests future directions based on this model. Interventions pursuing change in survivor social adjustment should consider targeting social ecological factors. PMID:25382825

The Evolutionary Role of Interorganizational Communication: Modeling Social Capital in Disaster Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doerfel, Marya L.; Lai, Chih-Hui; Chewning, Lisa V.

2010-01-01

Employing a community ecology perspective, this study examines how interorganizational (IO) communication and social capital (SC) facilitated organizational recovery after Hurricane Katrina. In-depth interviews with 56 New Orleans organizations enabled longitudinal analysis and a grounded theory model that illustrates how communication…

Listening to food workers: Factors that impact proper health and hygiene practice in food service

PubMed Central

Clegg Smith, Katherine; Neff, Roni A.; Pollack, Keshia M.; Ensminger, Margaret

2015-01-01

Background Foodborne disease is a significant problem worldwide. Research exploring sources of outbreaks indicates a pronounced role for food workers' improper health and hygiene practice. Objective To investigate food workers' perceptions of factors that impact proper food safety practice. Method Interviews with food service workers in Baltimore, MD, USA discussing food safety practices and factors that impact implementation in the workplace. A social ecological model organizes multiple levels of influence on health and hygiene behavior. Results Issues raised by interviewees include factors across the five levels of the social ecological model, and confirm findings from previous work. Interviews also reveal many factors not highlighted in prior work, including issues with food service policies and procedures, working conditions (e.g., pay and benefits), community resources, and state and federal policies. Conclusion Food safety interventions should adopt an ecological orientation that accounts for factors at multiple levels, including workers' social and structural context, that impact food safety practice. PMID:26243248

School bullying: its nature and ecology.

PubMed

Espelage, Dorothy L; De La Rue, Lisa

2011-11-04

Recent youth suicides only highlight a persistent problem in schools - bullying and sustained peer victimization. Being a target or victim of bullying has long been recognized has having short- and long-term psychological effects on children and adolescents across the world today. School bullying is one of the most significant public health concerns facing children and adolescents. Involvement in the social phenomena of school bullying is often explained as emerging from a wide range of risk and protective factors within the social-ecology of youth. The social-ecological model posits that bullying behaviors are shaped by various interrelated contexts including individual characteristics, family, peers and the school environment. Research is reviewed to highlight the correlates of bullying involvement across these context using social-ecological and social-learning frameworks. Meta-analytic studies are reviewed on the short- and long-term impact of bullying involvement and efficacy of bullying prevention programs. Specific recommendations for prevention planning and future research efforts are provided. Bullying is a multi-faceted issue, which is best understood in the larger social context in which it occurs. Individual characteristics of students contribute to bullying involvement when students have families that promote violence, teachers that ignore or dismiss bullying, schools that have negative climates and students who socialize with friends who bully. These social contexts need to be targeted in bully prevention programs to reduce bullying and peer victimization in schools.

Social Network Analysis and Nutritional Behavior: An Integrated Modeling Approach

PubMed Central

Senior, Alistair M.; Lihoreau, Mathieu; Buhl, Jerome; Raubenheimer, David; Simpson, Stephen J.

2016-01-01

Animals have evolved complex foraging strategies to obtain a nutritionally balanced diet and associated fitness benefits. Recent research combining state-space models of nutritional geometry with agent-based models (ABMs), show how nutrient targeted foraging behavior can also influence animal social interactions, ultimately affecting collective dynamics and group structures. Here we demonstrate how social network analyses can be integrated into such a modeling framework and provide a practical analytical tool to compare experimental results with theory. We illustrate our approach by examining the case of nutritionally mediated dominance hierarchies. First we show how nutritionally explicit ABMs that simulate the emergence of dominance hierarchies can be used to generate social networks. Importantly the structural properties of our simulated networks bear similarities to dominance networks of real animals (where conflicts are not always directly related to nutrition). Finally, we demonstrate how metrics from social network analyses can be used to predict the fitness of agents in these simulated competitive environments. Our results highlight the potential importance of nutritional mechanisms in shaping dominance interactions in a wide range of social and ecological contexts. Nutrition likely influences social interactions in many species, and yet a theoretical framework for exploring these effects is currently lacking. Combining social network analyses with computational models from nutritional ecology may bridge this divide, representing a pragmatic approach for generating theoretical predictions for nutritional experiments. PMID:26858671

Evolving Communicative Complexity: Insight from Rodents and Beyond

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

Group size in animal societies: the potential role of social and ecological limitations in the group-living fish , Paragobiodon xanthosomus. Ethology... Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA 2Human Research and Engineering Directorate, Perceptual Sciences...evolve is an active question in behavioural ecology . Sciurid rodents (ground squirrels, prairie dogs and marmots) provide an excellent model system for

A Nontraditional Education Model with Indian Indigenous Social Service Workers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelley, M. L.; Nelson, C. H.

1986-01-01

Describes educational processes to enable non-Indian social work educators to support development of Indian social service workers. Suggests holistic/ecological/systems perspective, facilitator/mentor role, mutuality, maximizing differences, empowerment, and structural approach. Discusses effective helping methods and roles for Indian social…

A Probabilistic Model of Cross-Categorization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shafto, Patrick; Kemp, Charles; Mansinghka, Vikash; Tenenbaum, Joshua B.

2011-01-01

Most natural domains can be represented in multiple ways: we can categorize foods in terms of their nutritional content or social role, animals in terms of their taxonomic groupings or their ecological niches, and musical instruments in terms of their taxonomic categories or social uses. Previous approaches to modeling human categorization have…

[Environmental quality assessment of regional agro-ecosystem in Loess Plateau].

PubMed

Wang, Limei; Meng, Fanping; Zheng, Jiyong; Wang, Zhonglin

2004-03-01

Based on the detection and analysis of the contamination status of agro-ecosystem with apple-crops intercropping as the dominant cropping model in Loess Plateau, the individual factor and comprehensive environmental quality were assessed by multilevel fuzzy synthetic evaluation model, analytical hierarchy process(AHP), and improved standard weight deciding method. The results showed that the quality of soil, water and agricultural products was grade I, the social economical environmental quality was grade II, the ecological environmental quality was grade III, and the comprehensive environmental quality was grade I. The regional agro-ecosystem dominated by apple-crops intercropping was not the best model for the ecological benefits, but had the better social economical benefits.

Dowry and Public Policy in Contemporary India : The Behavioral Ecology of a "Social Evil".

PubMed

Shenk, Mary K

2007-09-01

In modern Indian political discourse the custom of dowry is often represented as the cause of serious social problems, including the neglect of daughters, sex-selective abortion, female infanticide, and the harassment, abuse, and murder of brides. Attempts to deal with these problems through legislative prohibition of dowry, however, have resulted in virtually no diminution of either dowry or violence against women. In contrast, radically different interpretations of dowry can be found in the literatures of structural-functionalist anthropology, economics, and human behavioral ecology which muster wide-ranging forms of qualitative and quantitative evidence to support functional models of dowry as a form of inheritance or investment in daughters and/or their children. This paper argues that a functionalist perspective on dowry could lead to improved dowry policy, and that an approach based in human behavioral ecology (HBE) is uniquely suited to this task. After reviewing the relevant literature on dowry in South Asia, I discuss current dowry legislation and its limitations. I then develop a behavioral ecology model of Indian dowry and test it with quantitative and qualitative data. I conclude that if dowry legislation is to achieve broad support or bring about effective social change, it must address and support the positive motivations for and effects of dowry and take a targeted approach to dowry violence, which is not uniformly distributed across regions, castes, or social classes.

Operationalizing safe operating space for regional social-ecological systems.

PubMed

Hossain, Md Sarwar; Dearing, John A; Eigenbrod, Felix; Johnson, Fiifi Amoako

2017-04-15

This study makes a first attempt to operationalize the safe operating space concept at a regional scale by considering the complex dynamics (e.g. non-linearity, feedbacks, and interactions) within a systems dynamic model (SD). We employ the model to explore eight 'what if' scenarios based on well-known challenges (e.g. climate change) and current policy debates (e.g. subsidy withdrawal). The findings show that the social-ecological system in the Bangladesh delta may move beyond a safe operating space when a withdrawal of a 50% subsidy for agriculture is combined with the effects of a 2°C temperature increase and sea level rise. Further reductions in upstream river discharge in the Ganges would push the system towards a dangerous zone once a 3.5°C temperature increase was reached. The social-ecological system in Bangladesh delta may be operated within a safe space by: 1) managing feedback (e.g. by reducing production costs) and the slow biophysical variables (e.g. temperature, rainfall) to increase the long-term resilience, 2) negotiating for transboundary water resources, and 3) revising global policies (e.g. withdrawal of subsidy) that negatively impact at regional scales. This study demonstrates how the concepts of tipping points, limits to adaptations, and boundaries for sustainable development may be defined in real world social-ecological systems. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Reproductive system, social organization, human disturbance and ecological dominance in native populations of the little fire ant, Wasmannia auropunctata.

PubMed

Foucaud, Julien; Orivel, Jérôme; Fournier, Denis; Delabie, Jacques H C; Loiseau, Anne; Le Breton, Julien; Cerdan, Philippe; Estoup, Arnaud

2009-12-01

The invasive ant species Wasmannia auropunctata displays both ecologically dominant and non-dominant populations within its native range. Three factors could theoretically explain the ecological dominance of some native populations of W. auropunctata: (i) its clonal reproductive system, through demographic and/or adaptive advantages; (ii) its unicolonial social organization, through lower intraspecific and efficient interspecific competition; (iii) the human disturbance of its native range, through the modification of biotic and abiotic environmental conditions. We used microsatellite markers and behavioural tests to uncover the reproductive modes and social organization of dominant and non-dominant native populations in natural and human-modified habitats. Microsatellite and mtDNA data indicated that dominant and non-dominant native populations (supercolonies as determined by aggression tests) of W. auropunctata did not belong to different evolutionary units. We found that the reproductive system and the social organization are neither necessary nor sufficient to explain W. auropunctata ecological dominance. Dominance rather seems to be set off by unknown ecological factors altered by human activities, as all dominant populations were recorded in human-modified habitats. The clonal reproductive system found in some populations of W. auropunctata may however indirectly contribute to its ecological dominance by allowing the species to expand its environmental niche, through the fixation over time of specific combinations of divergent male and female genotypes. Unicoloniality may rather promote the range expansion of already dominant populations than actually trigger ecological dominance. The W. auropunctata model illustrates the strong impact of human disturbance on species' ecological features and the adaptive potential of clonal reproductive systems.

Early Warning Signals of Social Transformation: A Case Study from the US Southwest

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Recent research in ecology suggests that generic indicators, referred to as early warning signals (EWS), may occur before significant transformations, both critical and non-critical, in complex systems. Up to this point, research on EWS has largely focused on simple models and controlled experiments in ecology and climate science. When humans are considered in these arenas they are invariably seen as external sources of disturbance or management. In this article we explore ways to include societal components of socio-ecological systems directly in EWS analysis. Given the growing archaeological literature on ‘collapses,’ or transformations, in social systems, we investigate whether any early warning signals are apparent in the archaeological records of the build-up to two contemporaneous cases of social transformation in the prehistoric US Southwest, Mesa Verde and Zuni. The social transformations in these two cases differ in scope and severity, thus allowing us to explore the contexts under which warning signals may (or may not) emerge. In both cases our results show increasing variance in settlement size before the transformation, but increasing variance in social institutions only before the critical transformation in Mesa Verde. In the Zuni case, social institutions appear to have managed the process of significant social change. We conclude that variance is of broad relevance in anticipating social change, and the capacity of social institutions to mitigate transformation is critical to consider in EWS research on socio-ecological systems. PMID:27706200

Assessing Coupled Social Ecological Flood Vulnerability from Uttarakhand, India, to the State of New York with Google Earth Engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tellman, B.; Schwarz, B.

2014-12-01

This talk describes the development of a web application to predict and communicate vulnerability to floods given publicly available data, disaster science, and geotech cloud capabilities. The proof of concept in Google Earth Engine API with initial testing on case studies in New York and Utterakhand India demonstrates the potential of highly parallelized cloud computing to model socio-ecological disaster vulnerability at high spatial and temporal resolution and in near real time. Cloud computing facilitates statistical modeling with variables derived from large public social and ecological data sets, including census data, nighttime lights (NTL), and World Pop to derive social parameters together with elevation, satellite imagery, rainfall, and observed flood data from Dartmouth Flood Observatory to derive biophysical parameters. While more traditional, physically based hydrological models that rely on flow algorithms and numerical methods are currently unavailable in parallelized computing platforms like Google Earth Engine, there is high potential to explore "data driven" modeling that trades physics for statistics in a parallelized environment. A data driven approach to flood modeling with geographically weighted logistic regression has been initially tested on Hurricane Irene in southeastern New York. Comparison of model results with observed flood data reveals a 97% accuracy of the model to predict flooded pixels. Testing on multiple storms is required to further validate this initial promising approach. A statistical social-ecological flood model that could produce rapid vulnerability assessments to predict who might require immediate evacuation and where could serve as an early warning. This type of early warning system would be especially relevant in data poor places lacking the computing power, high resolution data such as LiDar and stream gauges, or hydrologic expertise to run physically based models in real time. As the data-driven model presented relies on globally available data, the only real time data input required would be typical data from a weather service, e.g. precipitation or coarse resolution flood prediction. However, model uncertainty will vary locally depending upon the resolution and frequency of observed flood and socio-economic damage impact data.

The role of social and ecological processes in structuring animal populations: a case study from automated tracking of wild birds

PubMed Central

Farine, Damien R.; Firth, Josh A.; Aplin, Lucy M.; Crates, Ross A.; Culina, Antica; Garroway, Colin J.; Hinde, Camilla A.; Kidd, Lindall R.; Milligan, Nicole D.; Psorakis, Ioannis; Radersma, Reinder; Verhelst, Brecht; Voelkl, Bernhard; Sheldon, Ben C.

2015-01-01

Both social and ecological factors influence population process and structure, with resultant consequences for phenotypic selection on individuals. Understanding the scale and relative contribution of these two factors is thus a central aim in evolutionary ecology. In this study, we develop a framework using null models to identify the social and spatial patterns that contribute to phenotypic structure in a wild population of songbirds. We used automated technologies to track 1053 individuals that formed 73 737 groups from which we inferred a social network. Our framework identified that both social and spatial drivers contributed to assortment in the network. In particular, groups had a more even sex ratio than expected and exhibited a consistent age structure that suggested local association preferences, such as preferential attachment or avoidance. By contrast, recent immigrants were spatially partitioned from locally born individuals, suggesting differential dispersal strategies by phenotype. Our results highlight how different scales of social decision-making, ranging from post-natal dispersal settlement to fission–fusion dynamics, can interact to drive phenotypic structure in animal populations. PMID:26064644

Ecological generalism facilitates the evolution of sociality in snapping shrimps.

PubMed

Brooks, Katherine C; Maia, Rafael; Duffy, J Emmett; Hultgren, Kristin M; Rubenstein, Dustin R

2017-12-01

Evidence from insects and vertebrates suggests that cooperation may have enabled species to expand their niches, becoming ecological generalists and dominating the ecosystems in which they occur. Consistent with this idea, eusocial species of sponge-dwelling Synalpheus shrimps from Belize are ecological generalists with a broader host breadth and higher abundance than non-eusocial species. We evaluate whether sociality promotes ecological generalism (social conquest hypothesis) or whether ecological generalism facilitates the transition to sociality (social transition hypothesis) in 38 Synalpheus shrimp species. We find that sociality evolves primarily from host generalists, and almost exclusively so for transitions to eusociality. Additionally, sponge volume is more important for explaining social transitions towards communal breeding than to eusociality, suggesting that different ecological factors may influence the independent evolutionary origins of sociality in Synalpheus shrimps. Ultimately, our results are consistent with the social transition hypothesis and the idea that ecological generalism facilitates the transition to sociality. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

Improving low health literacy and patient engagement: A social ecological approach.

PubMed

McCormack, Lauren; Thomas, Veronica; Lewis, Megan A; Rudd, Rima

2017-01-01

This article posits four principal objectives related to the overarching goal of broadening the conceptualization of health literacy. We propose a social ecological approach to health literacy and patient engagement by illustrating how this multilevel approach offers an array of strategic options for interventions. A social ecological approach supports a broader understanding of health literacy that aligns with increased patient engagement. The ecological model highlights the importance of context, demonstrates how health literacy and patient engagement are inextricably connected, and gives rise to strategies to enhance them both. We illustrate the five multilevel intervention strategies for addressing low health literacy and promoting patient engagement: accumulation, amplification, facilitation, cascade, and convergence strategies. In addition, we provide a theoretical foundation to facilitate the development of interventions to enhance health literacy and ultimately increase patient engagement. The practice implications of adopting a broader social ecological perspective to address low health literacy shifts the field from thinking about individual educational interventions to how individual interventions may be augmented or supported by interventions at additional levels of influence. The potential benefit of adopting a multilevel intervention approach is that combining interventions could produce synergies that are greater than interventions that only utilize one level of influence. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Social Contexts in Adolescent Smoking: Does School Policy Matter?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piontek, D.; Buehler, A.; Rudolph, U.; Metz, K.; Kroeger, C.; Gradl, S.; Floeter, S.; Donath, C.

2008-01-01

According to an ecological perspective in psychology and in line with social cognitive theory, smoking behaviour is determined by different social contexts (for example, peers, family and school) providing adolescents with important role models. This paper investigates the effects of personal characteristics as well as family, peer and school…

Social-relational risk factors for predicting elder physical abuse: an ecological bi-focal model.

PubMed

von Heydrich, Levente; Schiamberg, Lawrence B; Chee, Grace

2012-01-01

Annually in the United States, 1 to 5 million older adults, 65 and above, are physically or sexually injured or mistreated by their caregivers in family settings. This study examined the prevalence and risk factors involved in elder physical abuse by adult child caregivers, moving from the immediate elderly parent/adult child relationship context to more distal social support contexts, utilizing a subsample of 203 elderly participants from the Midlife Development in the United States study (MIDUS II, 2004-2006). LISREL modeling examined causal pathways between elderly demographic characteristics, physical/emotional health, and behavioral and contextual characteristics from an ecological perspective. Data modeling was accomplished using Mplus, PAXW, and SYSTAT statistical software packages. Results indicate that latent factors including older adult health, social isolation of the older adult, and adult child characteristics were significantly associated with elder physical abuse, as mediated by the quality of the elderly parent/adult child relationship.

Integrating research tools to support the management of social-ecological systems under climate change

USGS Publications Warehouse

Miller, Brian W.; Morisette, Jeffrey T.

2014-01-01

Developing resource management strategies in the face of climate change is complicated by the considerable uncertainty associated with projections of climate and its impacts and by the complex interactions between social and ecological variables. The broad, interconnected nature of this challenge has resulted in calls for analytical frameworks that integrate research tools and can support natural resource management decision making in the face of uncertainty and complex interactions. We respond to this call by first reviewing three methods that have proven useful for climate change research, but whose application and development have been largely isolated: species distribution modeling, scenario planning, and simulation modeling. Species distribution models provide data-driven estimates of the future distributions of species of interest, but they face several limitations and their output alone is not sufficient to guide complex decisions for how best to manage resources given social and economic considerations along with dynamic and uncertain future conditions. Researchers and managers are increasingly exploring potential futures of social-ecological systems through scenario planning, but this process often lacks quantitative response modeling and validation procedures. Simulation models are well placed to provide added rigor to scenario planning because of their ability to reproduce complex system dynamics, but the scenarios and management options explored in simulations are often not developed by stakeholders, and there is not a clear consensus on how to include climate model outputs. We see these strengths and weaknesses as complementarities and offer an analytical framework for integrating these three tools. We then describe the ways in which this framework can help shift climate change research from useful to usable.

Evaluating social and ecological vulnerability of coral reef fisheries to climate change.

PubMed

Cinner, Joshua E; Huchery, Cindy; Darling, Emily S; Humphries, Austin T; Graham, Nicholas A J; Hicks, Christina C; Marshall, Nadine; McClanahan, Tim R

2013-01-01

There is an increasing need to evaluate the links between the social and ecological dimensions of human vulnerability to climate change. We use an empirical case study of 12 coastal communities and associated coral reefs in Kenya to assess and compare five key ecological and social components of the vulnerability of coastal social-ecological systems to temperature induced coral mortality [specifically: 1) environmental exposure; 2) ecological sensitivity; 3) ecological recovery potential; 4) social sensitivity; and 5) social adaptive capacity]. We examined whether ecological components of vulnerability varied between government operated no-take marine reserves, community-based reserves, and openly fished areas. Overall, fished sites were marginally more vulnerable than community-based and government marine reserves. Social sensitivity was indicated by the occupational composition of each community, including the importance of fishing relative to other occupations, as well as the susceptibility of different fishing gears to the effects of coral bleaching on target fish species. Key components of social adaptive capacity varied considerably between the communities. Together, these results show that different communities have relative strengths and weaknesses in terms of social-ecological vulnerability to climate change.

Social-ecological resilience and social conflict: institutions and strategic adaptation in Swedish water management.

PubMed

Galaz, Victor

2005-11-01

Dealing with uncertainty and complexity in social-ecological systems is profoundly dependent on the ability of natural resource users to learn and adapt from ecological surprises and crises. This paper analyzes why and how learning processes are affected by strategic behavior among natural resource users and how social conflict is affected by social and ecological uncertainty. The claim is that social conflict among natural resource users seriously inhibits the possibilities of learning and adaptation in social-ecological systems. This is done combining insights from political science, experimental economics, and social-psychology and an analytical case study elaborating social conflict and institutional change in Swedish water management institutions. This paper also discusses the crucial role the institutional context plays in defining the outcome of learning processes in Swedish water management institutions and hence highlights previously poorly elaborated political aspects of learning processes and institutional change in social-ecological systems.

Social Ecology, Deep Ecology and the Future of Green Political Thought.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tokar, Brian

1988-01-01

Describes the differences which divide the social ecology movement and the Deep Ecology Movement. Discusses how each views population ecology, politics, natural resources, and ecological living. Calls for a unified ecological movement. (CW)

Hybrid Teacher Leaders and the New Professional Development Ecology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Margolis, Jason

2012-01-01

This two-year study examines an emergent model for promoting classroom change amidst systemic professional development efforts--the hybrid teacher leader (HTL). Utilizing ecological and teacher social network frameworks, the relative strengths and weaknesses of educators who both teach and lead teachers are explored. In-depth qualitative data from…

INTEGRATING SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS TO IMPROVE WILDFIRE MANAGEMENT IN THE U.S.: TESTING A NEW ORGANIZING APPROACH FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Conducting an integrated analysis to evaluate the societal and ecological consequences of environmental management actions requires decisions about data collection, theory development, modeling and valuation. Approaching these decisions in coordinated fashion necessitates a syste...

An ecological basis for ecosystem management

Treesearch

M. R. Kaufmann; R. T. Graham; D. A. Boyce; W. H. Moir; L. Perry; R. T. Reynolds; R. L. Bassett; P. Mehlhop; C. B. Edminster; W. M. Block; P. S. Corn

1994-01-01

Guiding principles based on conservation biology are applied in assessing ecosystem needs. Ecosystem, economic, and social needs are integrated in a decision model in which the guiding principles are used as a primary filter for evaluating proposed actions. Management practices consistent with the guiding principles are likely to lead to ecological, economic, and...

The Human Ecology of Child Maltreatment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garbarino, James

The thesis underlying this paper is that maltreatment of children is fundamentally a socio-cultural problem, rather than a personal one. The use of an ecological model of human development is advocated to provide insight into the dynamics of child maltreatment, with emphasis on organism-environment interaction, social policy and second-order…

Interactive Videos Enhance Learning about Socio-Ecological Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smithwick, Erica; Baxter, Emily; Kim, Kyung; Edel-Malizia, Stephanie; Rocco, Stevie; Blackstock, Dean

2018-01-01

Two forms of interactive video were assessed in an online course focused on conservation. The hypothesis was that interactive video enhances student perceptions about learning and improves mental models of social-ecological systems. Results showed that students reported greater learning and attitudes toward the subject following interactive video.…

A regional-scale ecological risk framework for environmental flow evaluations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Brien, Gordon C.; Dickens, Chris; Hines, Eleanor; Wepener, Victor; Stassen, Retha; Quayle, Leo; Fouchy, Kelly; MacKenzie, James; Graham, P. Mark; Landis, Wayne G.

2018-02-01

Environmental flow (E-flow) frameworks advocate holistic, regional-scale, probabilistic E-flow assessments that consider flow and non-flow drivers of change in a socio-ecological context as best practice. Regional-scale ecological risk assessments of multiple stressors to social and ecological endpoints, which address ecosystem dynamism, have been undertaken internationally at different spatial scales using the relative-risk model since the mid-1990s. With the recent incorporation of Bayesian belief networks into the relative-risk model, a robust regional-scale ecological risk assessment approach is available that can contribute to achieving the best practice recommendations of E-flow frameworks. PROBFLO is a holistic E-flow assessment method that incorporates the relative-risk model and Bayesian belief networks (BN-RRM) into a transparent probabilistic modelling tool that addresses uncertainty explicitly. PROBFLO has been developed to evaluate the socio-ecological consequences of historical, current and future water resource use scenarios and generate E-flow requirements on regional spatial scales. The approach has been implemented in two regional-scale case studies in Africa where its flexibility and functionality has been demonstrated. In both case studies the evidence-based outcomes facilitated informed environmental management decision making, with trade-off considerations in the context of social and ecological aspirations. This paper presents the PROBFLO approach as applied to the Senqu River catchment in Lesotho and further developments and application in the Mara River catchment in Kenya and Tanzania. The 10 BN-RRM procedural steps incorporated in PROBFLO are demonstrated with examples from both case studies. PROBFLO can contribute to the adaptive management of water resources and contribute to the allocation of resources for sustainable use of resources and address protection requirements.

Making big communities small: using network science to understand the ecological and behavioral requirements for community social capital.

PubMed

Neal, Zachary

2015-06-01

The concept of social capital is becoming increasingly common in community psychology and elsewhere. However, the multiple conceptual and operational definitions of social capital challenge its utility as a theoretical tool. The goals of this paper are to clarify two forms of social capital (bridging and bonding), explicitly link them to the structural characteristics of small world networks, and explore the behavioral and ecological prerequisites of its formation. First, I use the tools of network science and specifically the concept of small-world networks to clarify what patterns of social relationships are likely to facilitate social capital formation. Second, I use an agent-based model to explore how different ecological characteristics (diversity and segregation) and behavioral tendencies (homophily and proximity) impact communities' potential for developing social capital. The results suggest diverse communities have the greatest potential to develop community social capital, and that segregation moderates the effects that the behavioral tendencies of homophily and proximity have on community social capital. The discussion highlights how these findings provide community-based researchers with both a deeper understanding of the contextual constraints with which they must contend, and a useful tool for targeting their efforts in communities with the greatest need or greatest potential.

Social Information Links Individual Behavior to Population and Community Dynamics.

PubMed

Gil, Michael A; Hein, Andrew M; Spiegel, Orr; Baskett, Marissa L; Sih, Andrew

2018-05-07

When individual animals make decisions, they routinely use information produced intentionally or unintentionally by other individuals. Despite its prevalence and established fitness consequences, the effects of such social information on ecological dynamics remain poorly understood. Here, we synthesize results from ecology, evolutionary biology, and animal behavior to show how the use of social information can profoundly influence the dynamics of populations and communities. We combine recent theoretical and empirical results and introduce simple population models to illustrate how social information use can drive positive density-dependent growth of populations and communities (Allee effects). Furthermore, social information can shift the nature and strength of species interactions, change the outcome of competition, and potentially increase extinction risk in harvested populations and communities. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Our Social Roots: How Local Ecology Shapes Our Social Structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mace, Ruth

There is overwhelming evidence that wide-ranging aspects of human biology and human behavior can be considered as adaptations to different subsistence systems. Wider environmental and ecological correlates of behavioral and cultural traits are generally best understood as being mediated by differences in subsistence strategies. Modes of subsistence profoundly influence both human biology, as documented in genetic changes, and human social behavior and cultural norms, such as kinship, marriage, descent, wealth inheritance, and political systems. Thus both cultural and biological factors usually need to be considered together in studies of human evolutionary ecology, combined in specifically defined evolutionary models. Models of cultural adaptation to environmental conditions can be subjected to the same or similar tests that behavioral ecologists have used to seek evidence for adaptive behavior in other species. Phylogenetic comparative methods are proving useful, both for studying co-evolutionary hypotheses (cultural and/or gene-culture co-evolution), and for estimating ancestral states of prehistoric societies. This form of formal cross-cultural comparison is helping to put history back into anthropology, and helping us to understand cultural evolutionary processes at a number of levels.

Economics of social trade-off: Balancing wastewater treatment cost and ecosystem damage.

PubMed

Jiang, Yu; Dinar, Ariel; Hellegers, Petra

2018-04-01

We have developed a social optimization model that integrates the financial and ecological costs associated with wastewater treatment and ecosystem damage. The social optimal abatement level of water pollution is determined by finding the trade-off between the cost of pollution control and its resulting ecosystem damage. The model is applied to data from the Lake Taihu region in China to demonstrate this trade-off. A wastewater treatment cost function is estimated with a sizable sample from China, and an ecological damage cost function is estimated following an ecosystem service valuation framework. Results show that the wastewater treatment cost function has economies of scale in facility capacity, and diseconomies in pollutant removal efficiency. Results also show that a low value of the ecosystem service will lead to serious ecological damage. One important policy implication is that the assimilative capacity of the lake should be enhanced by forbidding over extraction of water from the lake. It is also suggested that more work should be done to improve the accuracy of the economic valuation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Institutional Mechanism for Assortment in an Ecology of Games

PubMed Central

Smaldino, Paul E.; Lubell, Mark

2011-01-01

Recent research has revived Long's “ecology of games” model to analyze how social actors cooperate in the context of multiple political and social games. However, there is still a paucity of theoretical work that considers the mechanisms by which large-scale cooperation can be promoted in a dynamic institutional landscape, in which actors can join new games and leave old ones. This paper develops an agent-based model of an ecology of games where agents participate in multiple public goods games. In addition to contribution decisions, the agents can leave and join different games, and these processes are de-coupled. We show that the payoff for cooperation is greater than for defection when limits to the number of actors per game (“capacity constraints”) structure the population in ways that allow cooperators to cluster, independent of any complex individual-level mechanisms such as reputation or punishment. Our model suggests that capacity constraints are one effective mechanism for producing positive assortment and increasing cooperation in an ecology of games. The results suggest an important trade-off between the inclusiveness of policy processes and cooperation: Fully inclusive policy processes reduce the chances of cooperation. PMID:21850249

Of Mice and Men: Empirical Support for the Population-Based Social Epistasis Amplification Model (a Comment on ).

PubMed

Sarraf, Matthew Alexandar; Woodley Of Menie, Michael Anthony

2017-01-01

This commentary article offers new perspective on recent research investigating the behavioral and social ecological effects of a mutation related to autism spectrum disorders in mice. The authors explain the consistency of this research on mice with predictions advanced by a theory of the role of mutations in altering interorganismal gene-gene interactions (social epistasis) in social species including humans, known as the social epistasis amplification model. The potential significance of the mouse research for understanding contemporary human behavioral trends is explored.

Understanding protected area resilience: a multi-scale, social-ecological approach.

PubMed

Cumming, Graeme S; Allen, Craig R; Ban, Natalie C; Biggs, Duan; Biggs, Harry C; Cumming, David H M; De Vos, Alta; Epstein, Graham; Etienne, Michel; Maciejewski, Kristine; Mathevet, Raphaël; Moore, Christine; Nenadovic, Mateja; Schoon, Michael

2015-03-01

Protected areas (PAs) remain central to the conservation of biodiversity. Classical PAs were conceived as areas that would be set aside to maintain a natural state with minimal human influence. However, global environmental change and growing cross-scale anthropogenic influences mean that PAs can no longer be thought of as ecological islands that function independently of the broader social-ecological system in which they are located. For PAs to be resilient (and to contribute to broader social-ecological resilience), they must be able to adapt to changing social and ecological conditions over time in a way that supports the long-term persistence of populations, communities, and ecosystems of conservation concern. We extend Ostrom's social-ecological systems framework to consider the long-term persistence of PAs, as a form of land use embedded in social-ecological systems, with important cross-scale feedbacks. Most notably, we highlight the cross-scale influences and feedbacks on PAs that exist from the local to the global scale, contextualizing PAs within multi-scale social-ecological functional landscapes. Such functional landscapes are integral to understand and manage individual PAs for long-term sustainability. We illustrate our conceptual contribution with three case studies that highlight cross-scale feedbacks and social-ecological interactions in the functioning of PAs and in relation to regional resilience. Our analysis suggests that while ecological, economic, and social processes are often directly relevant to PAs at finer scales, at broader scales, the dominant processes that shape and alter PA resilience are primarily social and economic.

Understanding protected area resilience: a multi-scale, social-ecological approach

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cumming, Graeme S.; Allen, Craig R.; Ban, Natalie C.; Biggs, Duan; Biggs, Harry C.; Cumming, David H.M; De Vos, Alta; Epstein, Graham; Etienne, Michel; Maciejewski, Kristine; Mathevet, Raphael; Moore, Christine; Nenadovic, Mateja; Schoon, Michael

2015-01-01

Protected areas (PAs) remain central to the conservation of biodiversity. Classical PAs were conceived as areas that would be set aside to maintain a natural state with minimal human influence. However, global environmental change and growing cross-scale anthropogenic influences mean that PAs can no longer be thought of as ecological islands that function independently of the broader social-ecological system in which they are located. For PAs to be resilient (and to contribute to broader social-ecological resilience), they must be able to adapt to changing social and ecological conditions over time in a way that supports the long-term persistence of populations, communities, and ecosystems of conservation concern. We extend Ostrom's social-ecological systems framework to consider the long-term persistence of PAs, as a form of land use embedded in social-ecological systems, with important cross-scale feedbacks. Most notably, we highlight the cross-scale influences and feedbacks on PAs that exist from the local to the global scale, contextualizing PAs within multi-scale social-ecological functional landscapes. Such functional landscapes are integral to understand and manage individual PAs for long-term sustainability. We illustrate our conceptual contribution with three case studies that highlight cross-scale feedbacks and social-ecological interactions in the functioning of PAs and in relation to regional resilience. Our analysis suggests that while ecological, economic, and social processes are often directly relevant to PAs at finer scales, at broader scales, the dominant processes that shape and alter PA resilience are primarily social and economic.

Evaluating Social and Ecological Vulnerability of Coral Reef Fisheries to Climate Change

PubMed Central

Cinner, Joshua E.; Huchery, Cindy; Darling, Emily S.; Humphries, Austin T.; Graham, Nicholas A. J.; Hicks, Christina C.; Marshall, Nadine; McClanahan, Tim R.

2013-01-01

There is an increasing need to evaluate the links between the social and ecological dimensions of human vulnerability to climate change. We use an empirical case study of 12 coastal communities and associated coral reefs in Kenya to assess and compare five key ecological and social components of the vulnerability of coastal social-ecological systems to temperature induced coral mortality [specifically: 1) environmental exposure; 2) ecological sensitivity; 3) ecological recovery potential; 4) social sensitivity; and 5) social adaptive capacity]. We examined whether ecological components of vulnerability varied between government operated no-take marine reserves, community-based reserves, and openly fished areas. Overall, fished sites were marginally more vulnerable than community-based and government marine reserves. Social sensitivity was indicated by the occupational composition of each community, including the importance of fishing relative to other occupations, as well as the susceptibility of different fishing gears to the effects of coral bleaching on target fish species. Key components of social adaptive capacity varied considerably between the communities. Together, these results show that different communities have relative strengths and weaknesses in terms of social-ecological vulnerability to climate change. PMID:24040228

Solving problems in social-ecological systems: definition, practice and barriers of transdisciplinary research.

PubMed

Angelstam, Per; Andersson, Kjell; Annerstedt, Matilda; Axelsson, Robert; Elbakidze, Marine; Garrido, Pablo; Grahn, Patrik; Jönsson, K Ingemar; Pedersen, Simen; Schlyter, Peter; Skärbäck, Erik; Smith, Mike; Stjernquist, Ingrid

2013-03-01

Translating policies about sustainable development as a social process and sustainability outcomes into the real world of social-ecological systems involves several challenges. Hence, research policies advocate improved innovative problem-solving capacity. One approach is transdisciplinary research that integrates research disciplines, as well as researchers and practitioners. Drawing upon 14 experiences of problem-solving, we used group modeling to map perceived barriers and bridges for researchers' and practitioners' joint knowledge production and learning towards transdisciplinary research. The analysis indicated that the transdisciplinary research process is influenced by (1) the amount of traditional disciplinary formal and informal control, (2) adaptation of project applications to fill the transdisciplinary research agenda, (3) stakeholder participation, and (4) functional team building/development based on self-reflection and experienced leadership. Focusing on implementation of green infrastructure policy as a common denominator for the delivery of ecosystem services and human well-being, we discuss how to diagnose social-ecological systems, and use knowledge production and collaborative learning as treatments.

A Social-Ecological Framework of Theory, Assessment, and Prevention of Suicide

PubMed Central

Cramer, Robert J.; Kapusta, Nestor D.

2017-01-01

The juxtaposition of increasing suicide rates with continued calls for suicide prevention efforts begs for new approaches. Grounded in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) framework for tackling health issues, this personal views work integrates relevant suicide risk/protective factor, assessment, and intervention/prevention literatures. Based on these components of suicide risk, we articulate a Social-Ecological Suicide Prevention Model (SESPM) which provides an integration of general and population-specific risk and protective factors. We also use this multi-level perspective to provide a structured approach to understanding current theories and intervention/prevention efforts concerning suicide. Following similar multi-level prevention efforts in interpersonal violence and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) domains, we offer recommendations for social-ecologically informed suicide prevention theory, training, research, assessment, and intervention programming. Although the SESPM calls for further empirical testing, it provides a suitable backdrop for tailoring of current prevention and intervention programs to population-specific needs. Moreover, the multi-level model shows promise to move suicide risk assessment forward (e.g., development of multi-level suicide risk algorithms or structured professional judgments instruments) to overcome current limitations in the field. Finally, we articulate a set of characteristics of social-ecologically based suicide prevention programs. These include the need to address risk and protective factors with the strongest degree of empirical support at each multi-level layer, incorporate a comprehensive program evaluation strategy, and use a variety of prevention techniques across levels of prevention. PMID:29062296

Promoting Breast Cancer Screening in Rural, African American Communities: The "Science and Art" of Community Health Promotion.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Altpeter, Mary; Earp, Jo Anne L.; Shopler, Janice H.

1998-01-01

Social ecological theory, social-work community organization models, and health-promotion models are brought together to address ways to generate change at the individual and policy levels, and to provide guidance for community health-promotion programs. An eight-year cancer-prevention project is presented as a case study. (EMK)

Ecological Forecasting in the Applied Sciences Program and Input to the Decadal Survey

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Skiles, Joseph

2015-01-01

Ecological forecasting uses knowledge of physics, ecology and physiology to predict how ecosystems will change in the future in response to environmental factors. Further, Ecological Forecasting employs observations and models to predict the effects of environmental change on ecosystems. In doing so, it applies information from the physical, biological, and social sciences and promotes a scientific synthesis across the domains of physics, geology, chemistry, biology, and psychology. The goal is reliable forecasts that allow decision makers access to science-based tools in order to project changes in living systems. The next decadal survey will direct the development Earth Observation sensors and satellites for the next ten years. It is important that these new sensors and satellites address the requirements for ecosystem models, imagery, and other data for resource management. This presentation will give examples of these model inputs and some resources needed for NASA to continue effective Ecological Forecasting.

Social-ecological research in urban natural areas: an emergent process for integration

Treesearch

Michelle L. Johnson; D. S. Novem Auyeung; Nancy F. Sonti; Clara C. Pregitzer; Heather L. McMillen; Richard Hallett; Lindsay K. Campbell; Helen M. Forgione; Mina Kim; Sarah Charlop-Powers; Erika S. Svendsen

2018-01-01

Understanding the structure and function of urban landscapes requires integrating social and ecological research. Here, we integrate parallel social and ecological assessments of natural areas within New York City. We examined social data (from a rapid assessment of park use and meaning, collected at a park zone level) alongside ecological data (froma plot-based...

Ocean acidification may aggravate social-ecological trade-offs in coastal fisheries.

PubMed

Voss, Rudi; Quaas, Martin F; Schmidt, Jörn O; Kapaun, Ute

2015-01-01

Ocean Acidification (OA) will influence marine ecosystems by changing species abundance and composition. Major effects are described for calcifying organisms, which are significantly impacted by decreasing pH values. Direct effects on commercially important fish are less well studied. The early life stages of fish populations often lack internal regulatory mechanisms to withstand the effects of abnormal pH. Negative effects can be expected on growth, survival, and recruitment success. Here we study Norwegian coastal cod, one of the few stocks where such a negative effect was experimentally quantified, and develop a framework for coupling experimental data on OA effects to ecological-economic fisheries models. In this paper, we scale the observed physiological responses to the population level by using the experimentally determined mortality rates as part of the stock-recruitment relationship. We then use an ecological-economic optimization model, to explore the potential effect of rising CO2 concentration on ecological (stock size), economic (profits), consumer-related (harvest) and social (employment) indicators, with scenarios ranging from present day conditions up to extreme acidification. Under the assumptions of our model, yields and profits could largely be maintained under moderate OA by adapting future fishing mortality (and related effort) to changes owing to altered pH. This adaptation comes at the costs of reduced stock size and employment, however. Explicitly visualizing these ecological, economic and social tradeoffs will help in defining realistic future objectives. Our results can be generalized to any stressor (or stressor combination), which is decreasing recruitment success. The main findings of an aggravation of trade-offs will remain valid. This seems to be of special relevance for coastal stocks with limited options for migration to avoid unfavorable future conditions and subsequently for coastal fisheries, which are often small scale local fisheries with limited operational ranges.

Advancing the adaptive capacity of social-ecological systems to absorb climate extremes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thonicke, Kirsten; Bahn, Michael; Bardgett, Richard; Bloemen, Jasper; Chabay, Ilan; Erb, Karlheinz; Giamberini, Mariasilvia; Gingrich, Simone; Lavorel, Sandra; Liehr, Stefan; Rammig, Anja

2017-04-01

The recent and projected increases in climate variability and the frequency of climate extremes are posing a profound challenge to society and the biosphere (IPCC 2012, IPCC 2013). Climate extremes can affect natural and managed ecosystems more severely than gradual warming. The ability of ecosystems to resist and recover from climate extremes is therefore of fundamental importance for society, which strongly relies on their ability to supply provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services. Society in turn triggers land-use and management decisions that affect ecosystem properties. Thus, ecological and socio-economic conditions are tightly coupled in what has been referred to as the social-ecological system. For ensuring human well-being in the light of climate extremes it is crucial to enhance the resilience of the social-ecological system (SES) across spatial, temporal and institutional scales. Stakeholders, such as resource managers, urban, landscape and conservation planners, decision-makers in agriculture and forestry, as well as natural hazards managers, require an improved knowledge base for better-informed decision making. To date the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of SESs to climate extremes is not well understood and large uncertainties exist as to the legacies of climate extremes on ecosystems and on related societal structures and processes. Moreover, we lack empirical evidence and incorporation of simulated future ecosystem and societal responses to support pro-active management and enhance social-ecological resilience. In our presentation, we outline the major research gaps and challenges to be addressed for understanding and enhancing the adaptive capacity of SES to absorb and adapt to climate extremes, including acquisition and elaboration of long-term monitoring data and improvement of ecological models to better project climate extreme effects and provide model uncertainties. We highlight scientific challenges and discuss conceptual and observational gaps that need to be overcome to advance this inter- and transdisciplinary topic.

Analysis of the ecological conservation behavior of farmers in payment for ecosystem service programs in eco-environmentally fragile areas using social psychology models.

PubMed

Deng, Jian; Sun, Pingsheng; Zhao, Fazhu; Han, Xinhui; Yang, Gaihe; Feng, Yongzhong

2016-04-15

Studies on the ecological conservation behavior of farmers usually focus on individual and socio-economic characteristics without consideration of the underlying psychological constructs, such as farmers' intention and perceptions. This study uses the theory of planned behavior (TPB), a typical social psychology construct, to analyze the factors affecting the intention and behavior of farmers for conserving the ecological achievements from payment for ecosystem service (PES) programs in eco-environmentally fragile areas. Questionnaires based on TPB were administered to 1004 farmers from the Grain to Green Program area in the Loess Plateau, China, with the resulting dataset used to identify the underlying factors determining farmers' intention and behavior based on the structural equation model. The results show that the farmers' intention and behavior toward conserving ecological achievements were explained well by TPB. The farmers'behavior was significantly positively affected by their intention toward conserving ecological achievements, and their intention was significantly influenced by their attitude (positive or negative value of performance), the subjective norm (social pressure in engaging behavior), and perceived behavioral control (perceptions of their ability). The farmers' degree of support for PES programs and their recognition of environmental effects were the factors that most influenced the farmers' attitude. Pressure from neighbors was the most potent driver of the subjective norm. Meanwhile, perceptions of their ability to perform the behavior were the most potent factors affecting intention and it was mostly driven by the farmers' feelings toward environmental improvement and perceived ability (time and labor) to participate in ecological conservation. The drivers of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control can be used by policy makers to direct farmers' intention and behavior toward conserving ecological achievements in fragile eco-environmentally areas through PES programs. Thus, this strategy can improve the sustainability of ecological and environmental restoration programs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Efficient and resilient governance of social-ecological systems.

PubMed

Erickson, Adam

2015-09-01

New institutions are critically needed to improve the resilience of social-ecological systems globally. Watershed management offers an important model due to its ability to govern mixed-ownership landscapes through common property regimes, translating national goals into local action. Here, I assess the efficacy of state watershed management institutions in the Pacific Northwest, based on their ability to support local watershed groups. I use document analysis to describe and compare state institutions in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California. Results indicate that state institutional efficiency and resilience are the key factors determining watershed group activity and stability. The primary drivers of institutional efficiency and resilience were institutional unification, robust funding portfolios, low agency conflict, and strong support for economic multiplier effects, creative partnerships, and scholarly research. My findings elucidate the critical role of institutional efficiency and resilience in governing dynamic and complex social-ecological systems, enabling the flexibility to address emergent transformations.

Using community insight to understand physical activity adoption in overweight and obese African American and Hispanic women: A qualitative study

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Ecologic models suggest that multiple levels of influencing factors are important for determining physical activity participation and include individual, social, and environmental factors. The purpose of this qualitative study was to use an ecologic framework to gain a deeper understanding of the un...

An Ecological Model of Stressors Experienced by Youth Newly Diagnosed with HIV

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hosek, Sybil G.; Harper, Gary W.; Lemos, Diana; Martinez, Jaime

2008-01-01

This study qualitatively examined the social-ecological stressors that youth experience during the first year following an HIV diagnosis. Thirty HIV-positive youth (16 males, 14 females) between the ages of 16-24 participated in either focus groups or individual interviews. All sessions were transcribed and themes were identified through…

Predictors of Parenting among Economically Disadvantaged Latina Mothers: Mediating and Moderating Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prelow, Hazel M.; Weaver, Scott R.; Bowman, Marvella A.; Swenson, Rebecca R.

2010-01-01

Structural equation modeling was used to examine the role of ecological risk factors, maternal psychological distress, and social network support on the parenting behaviors of 535 economically disadvantaged Latina mothers, who were surveyed for the Welfare Children, & Families: A Three City Study. We predicted that ecological risk would…

The effect of educational intervention based on an Ecological-social model on consuming fruit and vegetables in women in Ilam.

PubMed

Shafiei, Leili; Taymoori, Parvaneh; Maleki, Afshin; Sayehmiri, Kourosh

2017-12-01

The effect of instructional models on the changing behavior of consuming fruit and vegetables in the prevention of diseases caused by consumption of foods including rice, contaminated with toxic metals, has not been investigated in Iran yet. To compare an Ecological-social model (ECO) group and Control group in increasing fruit and vegetable consumption. This research involved implementation of a six-month randomized controlled educational interventionist program into a group of Ecological-social framework along with a control group, totally summing up to 160 women between 18 and 50 years of age in Ilam, Iran in 2014. The questionnaire included knowledge, social support construct (immediate family, relatives, friends, colleagues and neighbors.) and fruit and vegetable intake in both groups before and after the intervention was examined. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 16 using the signed ranks test, and repeated measures analysis of variance analysis, and confidence interval of 95% were employed. The results of the signed ranks test showed a significant increase in social support in the intervention group (p<0.001). This test showed a significant increase in fruit and vegetable consumption and a significant increase in the number of women using healthy rice (p<0.001), and a significant reduction in the number of women consuming unhealthy rice in the intervention group (p<0.001), that determines dietary intake improvement after the intervention compared with before the intervention (p<0.01). However, this improvement was not observed in the control group. The results showed that ECO plays an effective role in improving fruit and vegetable consumption in women. Therefore, this model was implemented as a health protocol through health-care centers to conduct the prevention of complications resulting from the use of food contaminated with toxic metals.

The Operation Method of Smarter City Based on Ecological Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, C.; Fan, H. Y.

2017-10-01

As the city and urbanization’s accelerated pace has caused galloping population, the urban framework is extending with increasingly complex social problems. The urban management tends to become complicated and the governance seems more difficult to pursue. exploring the urban management’s new model has attracted local governments’ urgent attention. tcombines the guiding ideology and that management’s practices based on ecological theory, explains the Smarter city Ecology Managementmodel’s formation, makes modern urban management’s comparative analysis and further defines the aforesaid management mode’s conceptual model. Based on the smarter city system theory’s ecological carrying capacity, the author uses mathematical model to prove the coordination relationship between the smarter city Ecology Managementmode’s subsystems, demonstrates that it can improve the urban management’s overall level, emphasizes smarter city management integrity, believing that urban system’s optimization is based on each subsystem being optimized, attaching the importance to elements, structure, and balance between each subsystem and between internal elements. Through the establishment of the smarter city Ecology Managementmodel’s conceptual model and theoretical argumentation, it provides a theoretical basis and technical guidance to that model’s innovation.

GIS Analysis of Changes in Ecological Vulnerability Using a SPCA Model in the Loess Plateau of Northern Shaanxi, China

PubMed Central

Kang, Hou; Xuxiang, Li; Jing, Zhang

2015-01-01

Changes in ecological vulnerability were analyzed for Northern Shaanxi, China using a geographic information system (GIS). An evaluation model was developed using a spatial principal component analysis (SPCA) model containing land use, soil erosion, topography, climate, vegetation and social economy variables. Using this model, an ecological vulnerability index was computed for the research region. Using natural breaks classification (NBC), the evaluation results were divided into five types: potential, slight, light, medium and heavy. The results indicate that there is greater than average optimism about the conditions of the study region, and the ecological vulnerability index (EVI) of the southern eight counties is lower than that of the northern twelve counties. From 1997 to 2011, the ecological vulnerability index gradually decreased, which means that environmental security was gradually enhanced, although there are still some places that have gradually deteriorated over the past 15 years. In the study area, government and economic factors and precipitation are the main reasons for the changes in ecological vulnerability. PMID:25898407

In search of an adaptive social-ecological approach to understanding a tropical city

Treesearch

A.E. Lugo; C.M. Concepcion; L.E. Santiago-Acevedo; T.A. Munoz-Erickson; J.C. Verdejo Ortiz; R. Santiago-Bartolomei; J. Forero-Montana; C.J. Nytch; H. Manrique; W. Colon-Cortes

2012-01-01

This essay describes our effort to develop a practical approach to the integration of the social and ecological sciences in the context of a Latin-American city such as San Juan, Puerto Rico. We describe our adaptive social-ecological approach in the historical context of the developing paradigms of the Anthropocene, new integrative social and ecological sciences, and...

Ecological drivers of group living in two populations of the communally rearing rodent, Octodon degus

PubMed Central

Sobrero, Raúl; Quirici, Verónica; Castro, Rodrigo A.; Tolhuysen, Liliana Ortiz; Vargas, Francisco; Burger, Joseph Robert; Quispe, René; Villavicencio, Camila P.; Vásquez, Rodrigo A.; Hayes, Loren D.

2012-01-01

Intraspecific variation in sociality is thought to reflect a trade-off between current fitness benefits and costs that emerge from individuals' decision to join or leave groups. Since those benefits and costs may be influenced by ecological conditions, ecological variation remains a major, ultimate cause of intraspecific variation in sociality. Intraspecific comparisons of mammalian sociality across populations facing different environmental conditions have not provided a consistent relationship between ecological variation and group-living. Thus, we studied two populations of the communally rearing rodent Octodon degus to determine how co-variation between sociality and ecology supports alternative ecological causes of group living. In particular, we examined how variables linked to predation risk, thermal conditions, burrowing costs, and food availability predicted temporal and population variation in sociality. Our study revealed population and temporal variation in total group size and group composition that covaried with population and yearly differences in ecology. In particular, predation risk and burrowing costs are supported as drivers of this social variation in degus. Thermal differences, food quantity and quality were not significant predictors of social group size. In contrast to between populations, social variation within populations was largely uncoupled from ecological differences. PMID:22344477

Social Ecology, Genomics, and African American Health: A Nonlinear Dynamical Perspective

PubMed Central

Madhere, Serge; Harrell, Jules; Royal, Charmaine D. M.

2009-01-01

This article offers a model that clarifies the degree of interdependence between social ecology and genomic processes. Drawing on principles from nonlinear dynamics, the model delineates major lines of bifurcation involving people's habitat, their family health history, and collective catastrophes experienced by their community. It shows how mechanisms of resource acquisition, depletion, and preservation can lead to disruptions in basic metabolism and in the activity of cytokines, neurotransmitters, and protein kinases, thus giving impetus to epigenetic changes. The hypotheses generated from the model are discussed throughout the article for their relevance to health problems among African Americans. Where appropriate, they are examined in light of data from the National Vital Statistics System. Multiple health outcomes are considered. For any one of them, the model makes clear the unique and converging contributions of multiple antecedent factors. PMID:19672481

Incorporating Social System Dynamics into the Food-Energy-Water System Resilience-Sustainability Modeling Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Givens, J.; Padowski, J.; Malek, K.; Guzman, C.; Boll, J.; Adam, J. C.; Witinok-Huber, R.

2017-12-01

In the face of climate change and multi-scalar governance objectives, achieving resilience of food-energy-water (FEW) systems requires interdisciplinary approaches. Through coordinated modeling and management efforts, we study "Innovations in the Food-Energy-Water Nexus (INFEWS)" through a case-study in the Columbia River Basin. Previous research on FEW system management and resilience includes some attention to social dynamics (e.g., economic, governance); however, more research is needed to better address social science perspectives. Decisions ultimately taken in this river basin would occur among stakeholders encompassing various institutional power structures including multiple U.S. states, tribal lands, and sovereign nations. The social science lens draws attention to the incompatibility between the engineering definition of resilience (i.e., return to equilibrium or a singular stable state) and the ecological and social system realities, more explicit in the ecological interpretation of resilience (i.e., the ability of a system to move into a different, possibly more resilient state). Social science perspectives include but are not limited to differing views on resilience as normative, system persistence versus transformation, and system boundary issues. To expand understanding of resilience and objectives for complex and dynamic systems, concepts related to inequality, heterogeneity, power, agency, trust, values, culture, history, conflict, and system feedbacks must be more tightly integrated into FEW research. We identify gaps in knowledge and data, and the value and complexity of incorporating social components and processes into systems models. We posit that socio-biophysical system resilience modeling would address important complex, dynamic social relationships, including non-linear dynamics of social interactions, to offer an improved understanding of sustainable management in FEW systems. Conceptual modeling that is presented in our study, represents a starting point for a continued research agenda that incorporates social dynamics into FEW system resilience and management.

Study on the Progress of Ecological Fragility Assessment in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Pei; Hou, Kang; Chang, Yue; Li, Xuxiang; Zhang, Yunwei

2018-02-01

The basic elements of human survival are based on the ecological environment. The development of social economic and the security of the ecological environment are closely linked and interact with each other. The fragility of the environment directly affects the stability of the regional ecosystem and the sustainable development of the ecological environment. As part of the division of the national ecological security, the assessment of ecological fragility has become a hot and difficult issue in environmental research, and researchers at home and abroad have systematically studied the causes and states of ecological fragility. The assessment of regional ecological fragility is a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the unbalanced distribution of ecological environment factors caused by human socio-economic activities or changes in ecosystems. At present, researches on ecological fragility has not formed a complete and unified index assessment system, and the unity of the assessment model has a direct impact on the accuracy of the index weights. Therefore, the discussion on selection of ecological fragility indexes and the improvement of ecological fragility assessment model is necessary, which is good for the improvement of ecological fragility assessment system in China.

Establishing ecological and social continuities: new challenges to optimize urban watershed management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitroi, V.; de Coninck, A.; Vinçon-Leite, B.; Deroubaix, J.-F.

2014-09-01

The (re)construction of the ecological continuity is stated as one of the main objectives of the European Water Framework Directive for watershed management in Europe. Analysing the social, political, technical and scientific processes characterising the implementation of different projects of ecological continuity in two adjacent peri-urban territories in Ile-de-France, we observed science-driven approaches disregarding the social contexts. We show that, in urbanized areas, ecological continuity requires not only important technical and ecological expertise, but also social and political participation to the definition of a common vision and action plan. Being a challenge for both, technical water management institutions and "classical" ecological policies, we propose some social science contributions to deal with ecological unpredictability and reconsider stakeholder resistance to this kind of project.

36 CFR 219.19 - Ecological, social, and economic sustainability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... economic sustainability. 219.19 Section 219.19 Parks, Forests, and Public Property FOREST SERVICE..., Social, and Economic Sustainability § 219.19 Ecological, social, and economic sustainability. Sustainability, composed of interdependent ecological, social, and economic elements, embodies the Multiple-Use...

36 CFR 219.19 - Ecological, social, and economic sustainability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... economic sustainability. 219.19 Section 219.19 Parks, Forests, and Public Property FOREST SERVICE..., Social, and Economic Sustainability § 219.19 Ecological, social, and economic sustainability. Sustainability, composed of interdependent ecological, social, and economic elements, embodies the Multiple-Use...

[Ecological management model of agriculture-pasture ecotone based on the theory of energy and material flow--a case study in Houshan dryland area of Inner Mongolia].

PubMed

Fan, Jinlong; Pan, Zhihua; Zhao, Ju; Zheng, Dawei; Tuo, Debao; Zhao, Peiyi

2004-04-01

The degradation of ecological environment in the agriculture-pasture ecotone in northern China has been paid more attentions. Based on our many years' research and under the guide of energy and material flow theory, this paper put forward an ecological management model, with a hill as the basic cell and according to the natural, social and economic characters of Houshan dryland farming area inside the north agriculture-pasture ecotone. The input and output of three models, i.e., the traditional along-slope-tillage model, the artificial grassland model and the ecological management model, were observed and recorded in detail in 1999. Energy and material flow analysis based on field test showed that compared with traditional model, ecological management model could increase solar use efficiency by 8.3%, energy output by 8.7%, energy conversion efficiency by 19.4%, N output by 26.5%, N conversion efficiency by 57.1%, P output by 12.1%, P conversion efficiency by 45.0%, and water use efficiency by 17.7%. Among the models, artificial grassland model had the lowest solar use efficiency, energy output and energy conversion efficiency; while the ecological management model had the most outputs and benefits, was the best model with high economic effect, and increased economic benefits by 16.1%, compared with the traditional model.

An ecological process model of systems change.

PubMed

Peirson, Leslea J; Boydell, Katherine M; Ferguson, H Bruce; Ferris, Lorraine E

2011-06-01

In June 2007 the American Journal of Community Psychology published a special issue focused on theories, methods and interventions for systems change which included calls from the editors and authors for theoretical advancement in this field. We propose a conceptual model of systems change that integrates familiar and fundamental community psychology principles (succession, interdependence, cycling of resources, adaptation) and accentuates a process orientation. To situate our framework we offer a definition of systems change and a brief review of the ecological perspective and principles. The Ecological Process Model of Systems Change is depicted, described and applied to a case example of policy driven systems level change in publicly funded social programs. We conclude by identifying salient implications for thinking and action which flow from the Model.

Bayesian Spatiotemporal Analysis of Socio-Ecologic Drivers of Ross River Virus Transmission in Queensland, Australia

PubMed Central

Hu, Wenbiao; Clements, Archie; Williams, Gail; Tong, Shilu; Mengersen, Kerrie

2010-01-01

This study aims to examine the impact of socio-ecologic factors on the transmission of Ross River virus (RRV) infection and to identify areas prone to social and ecologic-driven epidemics in Queensland, Australia. We used a Bayesian spatiotemporal conditional autoregressive model to quantify the relationship between monthly variation of RRV incidence and socio-ecologic factors and to determine spatiotemporal patterns. Our results show that the average increase in monthly RRV incidence was 2.4% (95% credible interval (CrI): 0.1–4.5%) and 2.0% (95% CrI: 1.6–2.3%) for a 1°C increase in monthly average maximum temperature and a 10 mm increase in monthly average rainfall, respectively. A significant spatiotemporal variation and interactive effect between temperature and rainfall on RRV incidence were found. No association between Socio-economic Index for Areas (SEIFA) and RRV was observed. The transmission of RRV in Queensland, Australia appeared to be primarily driven by ecologic variables rather than social factors. PMID:20810846

Effects of Social Capital in Multiple Contexts on the Psychosocial Adjustment of Chinese Migrant Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Qiaobing

2017-01-01

Drawing upon a sample of 772 migrant children and their parents in Shanghai, China, this study used an ecological framework to investigate how social capital embedded in a range of social contexts (i.e., family, school, peer, and community) influenced the psychosocial adjustment of Chinese migrant children. Using structural equation modeling with…

Segmented Assimilation Theory and the Life Model: An Integrated Approach to Understanding Immigrants and Their Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piedra, Lissette M.; Engstrom, David W.

2009-01-01

The life model offers social workers a promising framework to use in assisting immigrant families. However, the complexities of adaptation to a new country may make it difficult for social workers to operate from a purely ecological approach. The authors use segmented assimilation theory to better account for the specificities of the immigrant…

A pilot study of Aboriginal health promotion from an ecological perspective

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background For health promotion to be effective in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities, interventions (and their evaluation) need to work within a complex social environment and respect Indigenous knowledge, culture and social systems. At present, there is a lack of culturally appropriate evaluation methods available to practitioners that are capable of capturing this complexity. As an initial response to this problem, we used two non-invasive methods to evaluate a community-directed health promotion program, which aimed to improve nutrition and physical activity for members of the Aboriginal community of the Goulburn-Murray region of northern Victoria, Australia. The study addressed two main questions. First, for members of an Aboriginal sporting club, what changes were made to the nutrition environment in which they meet and how is this related to national guidelines for minimising the risk of chronic disease? Second, to what degree was the overall health promotion program aligned with an ecological model of health promotion that addresses physical, social and policy environments as well as individual knowledge and behaviour? Methods Rather than monitoring individual outcomes, evaluation methods reported on here assessed change in the nutrition environment (sports club food supply) as a facilitator of dietary change and the 'ecological' nature of the overall program (that is, its complexity with respect to numbers of targets, settings and strategies). Results There were favourable changes towards the provision of a food supply consistent with Australian guidelines at the sports club. The ecological analysis indicated that the design and implementation of the program were consistent with an ecological model of health promotion. Conclusions The evaluation was useful for assessing the impact of the program on the nutrition environment and for understanding the ecological nature of program activities. PMID:21961906

Interactions of social, terrestrial, and marine sub-systems in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

PubMed Central

Walsh, Stephen J.; Mena, Carlos F.

2016-01-01

Galapagos is often cited as an example of the conflicts that are emerging between resource conservation and economic development in island ecosystems, as the pressures associated with tourism threaten nature, including the iconic and emblematic species, unique terrestrial landscapes, and special marine environments. In this paper, two projects are described that rely upon dynamic systems models and agent-based models to examine human–environment interactions. We use a theoretical context rooted in complexity theory to guide the development of our models that are linked to social–ecological dynamics. The goal of this paper is to describe key elements, relationships, and processes to inform and enhance our understanding of human–environment interactions in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador. By formalizing our knowledge of how systems operate and the manner in which key elements are linked in coupled human–natural systems, we specify rules, relationships, and rates of exchange between social and ecological features derived through statistical functions and/or functions specified in theory or practice. The processes described in our models also have practical applications in that they emphasize how political policies generate different human responses and model outcomes, many detrimental to the social–ecological sustainability of the Galapagos Islands. PMID:27791072

Warming Climate and Changing Societies - a Challenge or an Opportunity for Reindeer Herding?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Käyhkö, J.; Horstkotte, T.; Kivinen, S.; Vehmas, J.; Oksanen, L.; Forbes, B. C.; Johansen, B.; Jepsen, J. U.; Markkola, A.; Pulliainen, J.; Olofsson, J.; Oksanen, T.; Utsi, T. A.; Korpimäki, E.; Menard, C.; Ericson, L.

2015-12-01

The Arctic region will warm more rapidly than the global mean, influencing dramatically the northern ecosystems. Simultaneously, our societies transform towards urbanized, highly educated, service-based culture, where a decreasing population will gain its livelihood from primary production. We study various ecosystem interactions in a changing climate and integrate these with reindeer husbandry and the indigenous Sámi culture dependent on it1. Potential climate impacts include the transformation of arctic-alpine tundra to dense scrubland with conceivable consequences to reindeer husbandry, but also global warming due to decreasing albedo. The social-ecological system (SES) of reindeer husbandry includes administrative and ecological processes that do not always correspond (Figure 1). Consequently, management priorities and administration may conflict with local social and ecological processes, bringing about risks of environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity and defeat of traditional livelihoods. We hypothesize the plausibility to support the indigenous reindeer herding livelihood against rapid external changes by utilizing the migratory reindeer grazing system of the Sámi as a management tool for sustaining the high-albedo tundra and mitigating global warming. Our first-of-a-kind satellite-based high resolution vegetation map covering Northern Fennoscandia allows detailed management plans. Our ecological research demonstrates the important role of herbivory on arctic vegetation communities. Interactive workshops with reindeer herders offer indigenous knowledge of state and changes of the ecosystems, and reflect the threats and expectations of the herders. We are currently building models of the complex social-ecological system of Northern Fennoscandia and will report the first findings of the exercise. 1 www.ncoetundra.utu.fi Figure 1. The scales of administrative and ecological processes do not always coincide. This may bring about challenges in managing the social-ecological systems.

Social-ecological influences on interpersonal support in people with physical disability.

PubMed

Devereux, Paul G; Bullock, Charles C; Gibb, Zebbedia G; Himler, Heidi

2015-10-01

People with physical disability report lower amounts of emotional and informational social support compared with other populations but it is unclear how influences at the broader societal level impact support in this population. To address this question, Berkman and Glass's social-ecological model was used to examine the influence of upstream factors on interpersonal support in people with physical disability. It was predicted that these factors would influence support even after controlling for the traditional measures linked to social support. 331 adult participants with physical disability (43% female; mean age = 42.7; 88% White) completed an online cross-sectional survey measuring types and sources of social support, social integration, disability impact in social domains, environmental barriers, and relevant psychosocial variables such as depression. A hierarchical linear regression analysis showed that level of disability, perceived tangible support, social integration, depressive symptoms, environmental barriers, occupational independence, and having family or friends as primary support sources were significantly associated with perceived support at the final step (R(2) = .60, F(22, 255) = 17.68, p < .001). The social-ecological measures, environmental barriers and social integration, had the largest associations with interpersonal support. Results demonstrate the importance of measuring distinct support constructs and how the broader social environment may matter more in interpersonal support perceptions for people with disability than typical measures studied in the literature. Improving environmental factors will help improve social support. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

TRIPLE-VALUE SIMULATION MODELING CASES TACKLE NUTRIENT AND WATERSHED MANAGEMENT FROM A SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE

EPA Science Inventory

Decision makers often need assistance in understanding dynamic interactions and linkages among economic, environmental and social systems in coastal watersheds. They also need scientific input to better evaluate potential costs and benefits of alternative policy interventions. EP...

Civic Ecology: Linking Social and Ecological Approaches in Extension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krasny, Marianne E.; Tidball, Keith G.

2010-01-01

Civic ecology refers to the philosophy and science of community forestry, community gardening, watershed enhancement, and other volunteer-driven restoration practices in cities and elsewhere. Such practices, although often viewed as initiatives to improve a degraded environment, also foster social attributes of resilient social-ecological systems,…

Disease implications of animal social network structure: A synthesis across social systems.

PubMed

Sah, Pratha; Mann, Janet; Bansal, Shweta

2018-05-01

The disease costs of sociality have largely been understood through the link between group size and transmission. However, infectious disease spread is driven primarily by the social organization of interactions in a group and not its size. We used statistical models to review the social network organization of 47 species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and insects by categorizing each species into one of three social systems, relatively solitary, gregarious and socially hierarchical. Additionally, using computational experiments of infection spread, we determined the disease costs of each social system. We find that relatively solitary species have large variation in number of social partners, that socially hierarchical species are the least clustered in their interactions, and that social networks of gregarious species tend to be the most fragmented. However, these structural differences are primarily driven by weak connections, which suggest that different social systems have evolved unique strategies to organize weak ties. Our synthetic disease experiments reveal that social network organization can mitigate the disease costs of group living for socially hierarchical species when the pathogen is highly transmissible. In contrast, highly transmissible pathogens cause frequent and prolonged epidemic outbreaks in gregarious species. We evaluate the implications of network organization across social systems despite methodological challenges, and our findings offer new perspective on the debate about the disease costs of group living. Additionally, our study demonstrates the potential of meta-analytic methods in social network analysis to test ecological and evolutionary hypotheses on cooperation, group living, communication and resilience to extrinsic pressures. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2017 British Ecological Society.

Tinnitus What and Where: An Ecological Framework

PubMed Central

Searchfield, Grant D.

2014-01-01

Tinnitus is an interaction of the environment, cognition, and plasticity. The connection between the individual with tinnitus and their world seldom receives attention in neurophysiological research. As well as changes in cell excitability, an individual’s culture and beliefs, and work and social environs may all influence how tinnitus is perceived. In this review, an ecological framework for current neurophysiological evidence is considered. The model defines tinnitus as the perception of an auditory object in the absence of an acoustic event. It is hypothesized that following deafferentation: adaptive feature extraction, schema, and semantic object formation processes lead to tinnitus in a manner predicted by Adaptation Level Theory (1, 2). Evidence from physiological studies is compared to the tenants of the proposed ecological model. The consideration of diverse events within an ecological context may unite seemingly disparate neurophysiological models. PMID:25566177

Translating the Socio-Ecological Perspective into Multilevel Interventions: Gaps between Theory and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schölmerich, Vera L. N.; Kawachi, Ichiro

2016-01-01

Multilevel interventions are inspired by socio-ecological models, and seek to create change on various levels--for example by increasing the health literacy of individuals as well as modifying the social norms within a community. Despite becoming a buzzword in public health, actual multilevel interventions remain scarce. In this commentary, we…

Using Community Insight to Understand Physical Activity Adoption in Overweight and Obese African American and Hispanic Women: A Qualitative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mama, Scherezade K.; McCurdy, Sheryl A.; Evans, Alexandra E.; Thompson, Deborah I.; Diamond, Pamela M.; Lee, Rebecca E.

2015-01-01

Ecologic models suggest that multiple levels of influencing factors are important for determining physical activity participation and include individual, social, and environmental factors. The purpose of this qualitative study was to use an ecologic framework to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying behavioral mechanisms that influence…

Chapter 6. Modeling human impacts to the Borderlands environment from a fire ecology perspective

Treesearch

Suzanne K. Fish

2006-01-01

Theoretical and topical orientations in current archaeology address the interaction between past human populations and their environment. These themes reflect ecological frameworks that were incorporated into the social sciences by the 1950s, as exemplified by the influential publication, Man?s Role in Changing the Face of the Earth (Thomas 1956). Cultural practices...

An Ecology of Prestige in New York City: Examining the Relationships Among Population Density, Socio-economic Status, Group Identity, and Residential Canopy Cover

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grove, J. Morgan; Locke, Dexter H.; O'Neil-Dunne, Jarlath P. M.

2014-09-01

Several social theories have been proposed to explain the uneven distribution of vegetation in urban residential areas: population density, social stratification, luxury effect, and ecology of prestige. We evaluate these theories using a combination of demographic and socio-economic predictors of vegetative cover on all residential lands in New York City. We use diverse data sources including the City's property database, time-series demographic and socio-economic data from the US Census, and land cover data from the University of Vermont's Spatial Analysis Lab (SAL). These data are analyzed using a multi-model inferential, spatial econometrics approach. We also examine the distribution of vegetation within distinct market categories using Claritas' Potential Rating Index for Zipcode Markets (PRIZM™) database. These categories can be disaggregated, corresponding to the four social theories. We compare the econometric and categorical results for validation. Models associated with ecology of prestige theory are more effective for predicting the distribution of vegetation. This suggests that private, residential patterns of vegetation, reflecting the consumption of environmentally relevant goods and services, are associated with different lifestyles and lifestages. Further, our spatial and temporal analyses suggest that there are significant spatial and temporal dependencies that have theoretical and methodological implications for understanding urban ecological systems. These findings may have policy implications. Decision makers may need to consider how to most effectively reach different social groups in terms of messages and messengers in order to advance land management practices and achieve urban sustainability.

An ecology of prestige in New York City: examining the relationships among population density, socio-economic status, group identity, and residential canopy cover.

PubMed

Grove, J Morgan; Locke, Dexter H; O'Neil-Dunne, Jarlath P M

2014-09-01

Several social theories have been proposed to explain the uneven distribution of vegetation in urban residential areas: population density, social stratification, luxury effect, and ecology of prestige. We evaluate these theories using a combination of demographic and socio-economic predictors of vegetative cover on all residential lands in New York City. We use diverse data sources including the City's property database, time-series demographic and socio-economic data from the US Census, and land cover data from the University of Vermont's Spatial Analysis Lab (SAL). These data are analyzed using a multi-model inferential, spatial econometrics approach. We also examine the distribution of vegetation within distinct market categories using Claritas' Potential Rating Index for Zipcode Markets (PRIZM™) database. These categories can be disaggregated, corresponding to the four social theories. We compare the econometric and categorical results for validation. Models associated with ecology of prestige theory are more effective for predicting the distribution of vegetation. This suggests that private, residential patterns of vegetation, reflecting the consumption of environmentally relevant goods and services, are associated with different lifestyles and lifestages. Further, our spatial and temporal analyses suggest that there are significant spatial and temporal dependencies that have theoretical and methodological implications for understanding urban ecological systems. These findings may have policy implications. Decision makers may need to consider how to most effectively reach different social groups in terms of messages and messengers in order to advance land management practices and achieve urban sustainability.

A Carbon Cycle Model for the Social-Ecological Process in Coastal Wetland: A Case Study on Gouqi Island, East China

PubMed Central

Xiong, Lihu; Zhu, Wenjia

2017-01-01

Coastal wetlands offer many important ecosystem services both in natural and in social systems. How to simultaneously decrease the destructive effects flowing from human activities and maintaining the sustainability of regional wetland ecosystems are an important issue for coastal wetlands zones. We use carbon credits as the basis for regional sustainable developing policy-making. With the case of Gouqi Island, a typical coastal wetlands zone that locates in the East China Sea, a carbon cycle model was developed to illustrate the complex social-ecological processes. Carbon-related processes in natural ecosystem, primary industry, secondary industry, tertiary industry, and residents on the island were identified in the model. The model showed that 36780 tons of carbon is released to atmosphere with the form of CO2, and 51240 tons of carbon is captured by the ecosystem in 2014 and the three major resources of carbon emission are transportation and tourism development and seawater desalination. Based on the carbon-related processes and carbon balance, we proposed suggestions on the sustainable development strategy of Gouqi Island as coastal wetlands zone. PMID:28286690

A Carbon Cycle Model for the Social-Ecological Process in Coastal Wetland: A Case Study on Gouqi Island, East China.

PubMed

Li, Yanxia; Xiong, Lihu; Zhu, Wenjia

2017-01-01

Coastal wetlands offer many important ecosystem services both in natural and in social systems. How to simultaneously decrease the destructive effects flowing from human activities and maintaining the sustainability of regional wetland ecosystems are an important issue for coastal wetlands zones. We use carbon credits as the basis for regional sustainable developing policy-making. With the case of Gouqi Island, a typical coastal wetlands zone that locates in the East China Sea, a carbon cycle model was developed to illustrate the complex social-ecological processes. Carbon-related processes in natural ecosystem, primary industry, secondary industry, tertiary industry, and residents on the island were identified in the model. The model showed that 36780 tons of carbon is released to atmosphere with the form of CO 2 , and 51240 tons of carbon is captured by the ecosystem in 2014 and the three major resources of carbon emission are transportation and tourism development and seawater desalination. Based on the carbon-related processes and carbon balance, we proposed suggestions on the sustainable development strategy of Gouqi Island as coastal wetlands zone.

On the biopsychosocial model: the example of political economic causes of diabetes in the Marshall Islands.

PubMed

Yamada, S; Palafox, N

2001-10-01

Biomedical reductionism, the unwritten theory underlying the practice of medicine, is being supplanted by the biopsychosocial model. The explanatory power of the biopsychosocial model, however, is hampered by an inadequate mechanism to account for the social production of disease. We examine diabetes in the Marshall Islands to explore a conceptual approach that incorporates ecology, history, and political economy into the biopsychosocial model. The use of the Marshall Islands by the United States as testing grounds for nuclear war has led to ecological destruction, population displacement, and economic dependency. The consequence at the biological level has been an epidemic of weight gain, altered metabolism, and diabetes. A political economic perspective reveals that such outcomes are the result of decisions made by those who do not live with these decisions. Such a perspective points the way for social engagement and political work toward justice and health.

Vultures acquire information on carcass location from scavenging eagles

PubMed Central

Kane, Adam; Jackson, Andrew L.; Ogada, Darcy L.; Monadjem, Ara; McNally, Luke

2014-01-01

Vultures are recognized as the scroungers of the natural world, owing to their ecological role as obligate scavengers. While it is well known that vultures use intraspecific social information as they forage, the possibility of inter-guild social information transfer and the resulting multi-species social dilemmas has not been explored. Here, we use data on arrival times at carcasses to show that such social information transfer occurs, with raptors acting as producers of information and vultures acting as scroungers of information. We develop a game-theoretic model to show that competitive asymmetry, whereby vultures dominate raptors at carcasses, predicts this evolutionary outcome. We support this theoretical prediction using empirical data from competitive interactions at carcasses. Finally, we use an individual-based model to show that these producer–scrounger dynamics lead to vultures being vulnerable to declines in raptor populations. Our results show that social information transfer can lead to important non-trophic interactions among species and highlight important potential links among social evolution, community ecology and conservation biology. With vulture populations suffering global declines, our study underscores the importance of ecosystem-based management for these endangered keystone species. PMID:25209935

Preserving and maintaining vital Ecosystem Services: the importance of linking knowledge from Geosciences and social-ecological System analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Finger, David; Petursdottir, Thorunn

2013-04-01

Human kind has always been curios and motivated to understand and quantify environmental processes in order to predict and anticipate the evolution of vital ecosystem services. Even the very first civilizations used empirical correlations to predict outcomes of rains and subsequent harvest efficiencies. Along with the insights into the functioning of ecosystems, humans also became aware that their anthropogenic activities can have positive and negative impact on ecosystem services. In recent years, geosciences have brought forward new sophisticated observations and modeling tools, with the aim to improve predictions of ecological developments. At the same time, the added value of linking ecological factors to the surrounding social structure has received a growing acceptance among scientists. A social-ecological system approach brings in a holistic understanding of how these systems are inevitably interlinked and how their sustainability can be better maintained. We claim that the biggest challenge for geoscience in the coming decades will be to link these two disciplines in order to establish adequate strategies to preserve natural ecosystems and their services, parallel to their utilization. We will present various case studies from more than a decade of research, ranging from water quality in mountain lakes, climate change impacts on water availability and declining fishing yields in freshwaters and discuss how the studies outcomes could be given added value by interpreting them via social-ecological system analysis. For instance, sophisticated field investigations revealed that deep water mixing in lake Issyk-Kul, Kirgizstan, is intensively distributing pollutants in the entire lake. Although fishery is an important sector in the region, the local awareness of the importance of water quality is low. In Switzerland, strict water protection laws led to ologotrophication of alpine lakes, reducing fishing yields. While local fishermen argued that local fishery is more ecological than importing fish, their calls for artificial lake fertilization were rejected and are socially not accepted. Finally, climate change projections of water availability in the Alps reveal that water may become scarce during summer months due to vanishing glaciers. Financially the hydropower sector is the most important water user. However, other stakeholders, like farmers and the tourism sectors will be all competing for the decreasing resources. In all these three cases, a social-ecological system analysis could give an added value to the geoscience results by identifying solutions that are both ecological and socially suitable. We will conclude our talk by giving an outlook how we intend to link the two disciplines to perform integrative assessments, linking geoscience to the relevant social-ecological system analysis in order to come up with strategies to sustainably preserve vital ecosystem services.

Children and Political Violence from a Social Ecological Perspective: Implications from Research on Children and Families in Northern Ireland

PubMed Central

Cummings, E. Mark; Goeke-Morey, Marcie C.; Schermerhorn, Alice C.; Merrilees, Christine E.; Cairns, Ed

2013-01-01

The effects on children of political violence are matters of international concern, with many negative effects well-documented. At the same time, relations between war, terrorism or other forms of political violence and child development do not occur in a vacuum. The impact can be understood as related to changes in the communities, families and other social contexts in which children live, and in the psychological processes engaged by these social ecologies. To advance this process-oriented perspective, a social ecological model for the effects of political violence on children is advanced. This approach is illustrated by findings and methods from an ongoing research project on political violence and children in Northern Ireland. Aims of this project include both greater insight into this particular context for political violence and the provision of a template for study of the impact of children’s exposure to violence in other regions of the world. Accordingly, the applicability of this approach is considered for other social contexts, including (a) another area in the world with histories of political violence, and (b) a context of community violence in the US. PMID:19229611

Children and political violence from a social ecological perspective: implications from research on children and families in Northern Ireland.

PubMed

Cummings, E Mark; Goeke-Morey, Marcie C; Schermerhorn, Alice C; Merrilees, Christine E; Cairns, Ed

2009-03-01

The effects on children of political violence are matters of international concern, with many negative effects well-documented. At the same time, relations between war, terrorism, or other forms of political violence and child development do not occur in a vacuum. The impact can be understood as related to changes in the communities, families and other social contexts in which children live, and in the psychological processes engaged by these social ecologies. To advance this process-oriented perspective, a social ecological model for the effects of political violence on children is advanced. This approach is illustrated by findings and methods from an ongoing research project on political violence and children in Northern Ireland. Aims of this project include both greater insight into this particular context for political violence and the provision of a template for study of the impact of children's exposure to violence in other regions of the world. Accordingly, the applicability of this approach is considered for other social contexts, including (a) another area in the world with histories of political violence and (b) a context of community violence in the US.

On some genetic consequences of social structure, mating systems, dispersal, and sampling

PubMed Central

Parreira, Bárbara R.; Chikhi, Lounès

2015-01-01

Many species are spatially and socially organized, with complex social organizations and dispersal patterns that are increasingly documented. Social species typically consist of small age-structured units, where a limited number of individuals monopolize reproduction and exhibit complex mating strategies. Here, we model social groups as age-structured units and investigate the genetic consequences of social structure under distinct mating strategies commonly found in mammals. Our results show that sociality maximizes genotypic diversity, which contradicts the belief that social groups are necessarily subject to strong genetic drift and at high risk of inbreeding depression. Social structure generates an excess of genotypic diversity. This is commonly observed in ecological studies but rarely reported in population genetic studies that ignore social structure. This heterozygosity excess, when detected, is often interpreted as a consequence of inbreeding avoidance mechanisms, but we show that it can occur even in the absence of such mechanisms. Many seemly contradictory results from ecology and population genetics can be reconciled by genetic models that include the complexities of social species. We find that such discrepancies can be explained by the intrinsic properties of social groups and by the sampling strategies of real populations. In particular, the number of social groups and the nature of the individuals that compose samples (e.g., nonreproductive and reproductive individuals) are key factors in generating outbreeding signatures. Sociality is an important component of population structure that needs to be revisited by ecologists and population geneticists alike. PMID:26080393

Smart social adaptation prevents catastrophic ecological regime shifts in networks of myopic harvesters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donges, Jonathan; Lucht, Wolfgang; Wiedermann, Marc; Heitzig, Jobst; Kurths, Jürgen

2015-04-01

In the anthropocene, the rise of global social and economic networks with ever increasing connectivity and speed of interactions, e.g., the internet or global financial markets, is a key challenge for sustainable development. The spread of opinions, values or technologies on these networks, in conjunction with the coevolution of the network structures themselves, underlies nexuses of current concern such as anthropogenic climate change, biodiversity loss or global land use change. To isolate and quantitatively study the effects and implications of network dynamics for sustainable development, we propose an agent-based model of information flow on adaptive networks between myopic harvesters that exploit private renewable resources. In this conceptual model of a network of socio-ecological systems, information on management practices flows between agents via boundedly rational imitation depending on the state of the resource stocks involved in an interaction. Agents can also adapt the structure of their social network locally by preferentially connecting to culturally similar agents with identical management practices and, at the same time, disconnecting from culturally dissimilar agents. Investigating in detail the statistical mechanics of this model, we find that an increasing rate of information flow through faster imitation dynamics or growing density of network connectivity leads to a marked increase in the likelihood of environmental resource collapse. However, we show that an optimal rate of social network adaptation can mitigate this negative effect without loss of social cohesion through network fragmentation. Our results highlight that seemingly immaterial network dynamics of spreading opinions or values can be of large relevance for the sustainable management of socio-ecological systems and suggest smartly conservative network adaptation as a strategy for mitigating environmental collapse. Hence, facing the great acceleration, these network dynamics should be more routinely incorporated in standard models of economic development or integrated assessment models used for evaluating anthropogenic climate change.

Multiplex social ecological network analysis reveals how social changes affect community robustness more than resource depletion.

PubMed

Baggio, Jacopo A; BurnSilver, Shauna B; Arenas, Alex; Magdanz, James S; Kofinas, Gary P; De Domenico, Manlio

2016-11-29

Network analysis provides a powerful tool to analyze complex influences of social and ecological structures on community and household dynamics. Most network studies of social-ecological systems use simple, undirected, unweighted networks. We analyze multiplex, directed, and weighted networks of subsistence food flows collected in three small indigenous communities in Arctic Alaska potentially facing substantial economic and ecological changes. Our analysis of plausible future scenarios suggests that changes to social relations and key households have greater effects on community robustness than changes to specific wild food resources.

Mapping social-ecological vulnerability to inform local decision making.

PubMed

Thiault, Lauric; Marshall, Paul; Gelcich, Stefan; Collin, Antoine; Chlous, Frédérique; Claudet, Joachim

2018-04-01

An overarching challenge of natural resource management and biodiversity conservation is that relationships between people and nature are difficult to integrate into tools that can effectively guide decision making. Social-ecological vulnerability offers a valuable framework for identifying and understanding important social-ecological linkages, and the implications of dependencies and other feedback loops in the system. Unfortunately, its implementation at local scales has hitherto been limited due at least in part to the lack of operational tools for spatial representation of social-ecological vulnerability. We developed a method to map social-ecological vulnerability based on information on human-nature dependencies and ecosystem services at local scales. We applied our method to the small-scale fishery of Moorea, French Polynesia, by combining spatially explicit indicators of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of both the resource (i.e., vulnerability of reef fish assemblages to fishing) and resource users (i.e., vulnerability of fishing households to the loss of fishing opportunity). Our results revealed that both social and ecological vulnerabilities varied considerably through space and highlighted areas where sources of vulnerability were high for both social and ecological subsystems (i.e., social-ecological vulnerability hotspots) and thus of high priority for management intervention. Our approach can be used to inform decisions about where biodiversity conservation strategies are likely to be more effective and how social impacts from policy decisions can be minimized. It provides a new perspective on human-nature linkages that can help guide sustainability management at local scales; delivers insights distinct from those provided by emphasis on a single vulnerability component (e.g., exposure); and demonstrates the feasibility and value of operationalizing the social-ecological vulnerability framework for policy, planning, and participatory management decisions. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Cultural Context and Modification of Behavior Change Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanders Thompson, Vetta L.

2009-01-01

Although social and cultural contexts act on each level of the multilevel ecologic model to affect cancer risk, health behavior, and cancer screening and promotion in health behavior research, people have yet to develop theories that sufficiently integrate the social and environmental context with group and individual behavior. The "Behavioral…

“You Know You Are Sick, Why Do You Carry A Pregnancy Again?” Applying the Socio-Ecological Model to Understand Barriers to PMTCT Service Utilization in Western Kenya

PubMed Central

Onono, Maricianah; Kwena, Zachary; Turan, Janet; Bukusi, Elizabeth A; Cohen, Craig R; Gray, Glenda E

2015-01-01

Objective Throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services are readily available. However, PMTCT programs in SSA have had suboptimal performance compared to other regions of the world. The main objective of this study is to explore the socio-ecological and individual factors influencing the utilization of PMTCT services among HIV-positive pregnant women in western Kenya using a social ecological model as our analytical lens. Methods Data were collected using in-depth interviews with 33 HIV-infected women attending government health facilities in rural western Kenya. Women with HIV-infected infants aged between 6 weeks to 6 months with a definitive diagnosis of HIV in the infant, as well as those with an HIV-negative test result in the infant were interviewed between November 2012 and June 2013. Coding and analysis of the transcripts followed grounded theory tenets. Coding reports were discussed in a series of meetings held among the authors. We then employed constant comparative analysis to discover dominant individual, family, society and structural determinants of PMTCT use. Results Barriers to women’s utilization of PMTCT services fell within the broad constructs of the socio-ecological model of individual, family, society and structural determinants. Several themes cut across the different steps of PMTCT cascade and relate to different constructs of the socio-ecological model. These themes include: self-motivation, confidence and resilience, family support, absence or reduced stigma, right provider attitude and quality of health services provided. We also found out that these factors ensured enhanced maternal health and HIV negative children. Conclusion The findings of this study suggest that a woman’s social environment is an important determinant of MTCT. PMTCT Interventions must comprehensively address multiple factors across the different ecological levels. More research is however required for the development of multi-component interventions that combine strategies at different ecological levels. PMID:26457229

The effects of types of social networks, perceived social support, and loneliness on the health of older people: accounting for the social context.

PubMed

Stephens, Christine; Alpass, Fiona; Towers, Andy; Stevenson, Brendan

2011-09-01

To use an ecological model of ageing (Berkman, Glass, Brissette, & Seeman, 2000) which includes upstream social context factors and downstream social support factors to examine the effects of social networks on health. Postal survey responses from a representative population sample of New Zealanders aged 55 to 70 years (N = 6,662). Correlations and multiple regression analyses provided support for a model in which social context contributes to social network type, which affects perceived social support and loneliness, and consequent mental and physical health. Ethnicity was related to social networks and health but this was largely accounted for by other contextual variables measuring socioeconomic status. Gender and age were also significant variables in the model. Social network type is a useful way to assess social integration within this model of cascading effects. More detailed information could be gained through the development of our network assessment instruments for older people.

Co-adapting societal and ecological interactions following large disturbances in urban park woodlands

Treesearch

Margaret Carreiro; Wayne Zipperer

2011-01-01

The responses of urban park woodlands to large disturbances provide the opportunity to identify and examine linkages in social-ecological systems in urban landscapes.We propose that the Panarchy model consisting of hierarchically nested adaptive cycles provides a useful framework to evaluate those linkages.We use two case studies as examples – Cherokee Park in...

Violence Prevention and Students with Disabilities: Perspectives from the Field of Youth Violence Prevention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gorman-Smith, Deborah

2012-01-01

Much of the work in youth violence prevention has been based in a public health model and guided by a developmental-ecological perspective on risk and prevention (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1988). A central tenet of developmental-ecological theory is that individual development is influenced by the ongoing qualities of the social settings in which the…

Science You Can Use Bulletin: Wildfire triage: Targeting mitigation based on social, economic, and ecological values

Treesearch

Karl Malcolm; Matthew Thompson; Dave Calkin; Mark Finney; Alan Ager

2012-01-01

Evaluating the risks of wildfire relative to the valuable resources found in any managed landscape requires an interdisciplinary approach. Researchers at the Rocky Mountain Research Station and Western Wildland Threat Assessment Center developed such a process, using a combination of techniques rooted in fire modeling and ecology, economics, decision sciences, and the...

[Ecological vulnerability of coal mining area: a case study of Shengli Coalfield in Xilinguole of Inner Mongolia, China].

PubMed

Quan, Zhan-Jun; Li, Yuan; Li, Jun-Sheng; Han, Yu; Xiao, Neng-Wen; Fu, Meng-Di

2013-06-01

In this paper, an ecological vulnerability evaluation index system for the Shengli Coalfield in Xilinguole of Inner Mongolia was established, which included 16 factors in ecological sensitivity, natural and social pressure, and ecological recovery capacity, respectively. Based on the expert scoring method and analytic hierarchy process (AHP), an ecological vulnerability model was built for the calculation of the regional ecological vulnerability by means of RS and GIS spatial analysis. An analysis of the relationships between land use and ecological vulnerability was also made, and the results were tested by spatial auto-correlation analysis. Overall, the ecological vulnerability of the study area was at medium-high level. The exploitation of four opencast areas in the Coalfield caused a significant increase of ecological vulnerability. Moreover, due to the effects of mine drained water and human activities, the 300 -2000 m around the opencast areas was turning into higher ecologically fragile area. With further exploitation, the whole Coalfield was evolved into moderate and heavy ecological vulnerability area, and the coal resources mining was a key factor in this process. The cluster analysis showed that the spatial distribution of the ecological vulnerability in the study area had reasonable clustering characteristics. To decrease the population density, control the grazing capacity of grassland, and regulate the ratios of construction land and cultivated land could be the optimal ways for resolving the natural and social pressure, and to increase the investment and improve the vegetation recovery coefficient could be the fundamental measures for decreasing the ecological vulnerability of the study area.

Interdisciplinary Pathways for Urban Metabolism Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Newell, J. P.

2011-12-01

With its rapid rise as a metaphor to express coupled natural-human systems in cities, the concept of urban metabolism is evolving into a series of relatively distinct research frameworks amongst various disciplines, with varying definitions, theories, models, and emphases. In industrial ecology, housed primarily within the disciplinary domain of engineering, urban metabolism research has focused on quantifying material and energy flows into, within, and out of cities, using methodologies such as material flow analysis and life cycle assessment. In the field of urban ecology, which is strongly influenced by ecology and urban planning, research focus has been placed on understanding and modeling the complex patterns and processes of human-ecological systems within urban areas. Finally, in political ecology, closely aligned with human geography and anthropology, scholars theorize about the interwoven knots of social and natural processes, material flows, and spatial structures that form the urban metabolism. This paper offers three potential interdisciplinary urban metabolism research tracks that might integrate elements of these three "ecologies," thereby bridging engineering and the social and physical sciences. First, it presents the idea of infrastructure ecology, which explores the complex, emergent interdependencies between gray (water and wastewater, transportation, etc) and green (e.g. parks, greenways) infrastructure systems, as nested within a broader socio-economic context. For cities to be sustainable and resilient over time-space, the theory follows, these is a need to understand and redesign these infrastructure linkages. Second, there is the concept of an urban-scale carbon metabolism model which integrates consumption-based material flow analysis (including goods, water, and materials), with the carbon sink and source dynamics of the built environment (e.g. buildings, etc) and urban ecosystems. Finally, there is the political ecology of the material urban metabolism, which adds spatial differentiation to materials flows and form, as well as a focus on equity, access, and governance dimensions of the urban metabolism.

Ecological psychology and social psychology: it is Holt, or nothing!

PubMed

Charles, Eric P

2011-03-01

What is the greatest contribution that ecological psychologists can offer social psychology? Ideally, ecological psychologists could explain how people directly perceive the unique properties of their social partners. But social partners are distinguished from mundane objects because they possess mental traits, and tradition tells us that minds cannot be seen. When considering the ideal possibility, we reject that doctrine and posit minds as perceivable. For ecological psychology, this entails asserting that minds are the types of things able to structure ambient energy. Contemporary research and theory suggests distinctly ecological ways of attacking this problem, but the problem is not new. Almost 100 years ago, Holt argued for the visibility of minds. Thus when considering these ideas, ecological psychologists face a choice that is at once about their future and their past. Extending ecological psychology's first principles into the social realm, we come to the point where we must either accept or reject Holt's arguments, and the wider context they bring. In doing so, we accept or reject our ability to study the uniquely social.

A Sense of Place: Integrating Environmental Psychology into Marine Socio-Ecological Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Putten, I. E.; Fleming, A.; Fulton, E.; Plaganyi-Lloyd, E.

2016-02-01

Sense of place is a concept that is increasingly applied in different social research contexts where it can act as a bridge between disciplines that might otherwise work in parallel. A sense of place is a well established and flexible concept that has been empirically measured using different survey methods. The psychological principals and theories that underpin sense of place have been inextricably linked to the quality of ecological systems and the impact on development of the system, and vice versa. Ecological models and scenario analyses play an important role in characterising, assessing and predicting the potential impacts of alternative developments and other changes affecting ecological systems. To improve the predictive accuracy of ecological models, human drivers, interactions, and uses have been dynamically incorporated, for instance, through management strategy evaluation applied to marine ecosystem models. However, to date no socio-ecological models (whether terrestrial or marine) have been developed that incorporate a dynamic feedback between ecosystem characteristics and peoples' sense of place. These models thus essentially ignore the influence of environmental psychology on the way people use and interact with ecosystems. We develop a proof of concept and provide a mathematical basis for a Sense of Place Index (SoPI) that allows the quantitative integration of environmental psychology into socio-ecological models. Incorporating dynamic feedback between the SoPI for different resource user groups and the ecological system improves the accuracy and precision of predictions regarding future resource use as well as, ultimately, the potential state of the resource to be developed.

Engineering online and in-person social networks to sustain physical activity: application of a conceptual model.

PubMed

Rovniak, Liza S; Sallis, James F; Kraschnewski, Jennifer L; Sciamanna, Christopher N; Kiser, Elizabeth J; Ray, Chester A; Chinchilli, Vernon M; Ding, Ding; Matthews, Stephen A; Bopp, Melissa; George, Daniel R; Hovell, Melbourne F

2013-08-14

High rates of physical inactivity compromise the health status of populations globally. Social networks have been shown to influence physical activity (PA), but little is known about how best to engineer social networks to sustain PA. To improve procedures for building networks that shape PA as a normative behavior, there is a need for more specific hypotheses about how social variables influence PA. There is also a need to integrate concepts from network science with ecological concepts that often guide the design of in-person and electronically-mediated interventions. Therefore, this paper: (1) proposes a conceptual model that integrates principles from network science and ecology across in-person and electronically-mediated intervention modes; and (2) illustrates the application of this model to the design and evaluation of a social network intervention for PA. A conceptual model for engineering social networks was developed based on a scoping literature review of modifiable social influences on PA. The model guided the design of a cluster randomized controlled trial in which 308 sedentary adults were randomly assigned to three groups: WalkLink+: prompted and provided feedback on participants' online and in-person social-network interactions to expand networks for PA, plus provided evidence-based online walking program and weekly walking tips; WalkLink: evidence-based online walking program and weekly tips only; Minimal Treatment Control: weekly tips only. The effects of these treatment conditions were assessed at baseline, post-program, and 6-month follow-up. The primary outcome was accelerometer-measured PA. Secondary outcomes included objectively-measured aerobic fitness, body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, and neighborhood walkability; and self-reported measures of the physical environment, social network environment, and social network interactions. The differential effects of the three treatment conditions on primary and secondary outcomes will be analyzed using general linear modeling (GLM), or generalized linear modeling if the assumptions for GLM cannot be met. Results will contribute to greater understanding of how to conceptualize and implement social networks to support long-term PA. Establishing social networks for PA across multiple life settings could contribute to cultural norms that sustain active living. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01142804.

Resilience offers escape from trapped thinking on poverty alleviation

PubMed Central

Lade, Steven J.; Haider, L. Jamila; Engström, Gustav; Schlüter, Maja

2017-01-01

The poverty trap concept strongly influences current research and policy on poverty alleviation. Financial or technological inputs intended to “push” the rural poor out of a poverty trap have had many successes but have also failed unexpectedly with serious ecological and social consequences that can reinforce poverty. Resilience thinking can help to (i) understand how these failures emerge from the complex relationships between humans and the ecosystems on which they depend and (ii) navigate diverse poverty alleviation strategies, such as transformative change, that may instead be required. First, we review commonly observed or assumed social-ecological relationships in rural development contexts, focusing on economic, biophysical, and cultural aspects of poverty. Second, we develop a classification of poverty alleviation strategies using insights from resilience research on social-ecological change. Last, we use these advances to develop stylized, multidimensional poverty trap models. The models show that (i) interventions that ignore nature and culture can reinforce poverty (particularly in agrobiodiverse landscapes), (ii) transformative change can instead open new pathways for poverty alleviation, and (iii) asset inputs may be effective in other contexts (for example, where resource degradation and poverty are tightly interlinked). Our model-based approach and insights offer a systematic way to review the consequences of the causal mechanisms that characterize poverty traps in different agricultural contexts and identify appropriate strategies for rural development challenges. PMID:28508077

Resilience offers escape from trapped thinking on poverty alleviation.

PubMed

Lade, Steven J; Haider, L Jamila; Engström, Gustav; Schlüter, Maja

2017-05-01

The poverty trap concept strongly influences current research and policy on poverty alleviation. Financial or technological inputs intended to "push" the rural poor out of a poverty trap have had many successes but have also failed unexpectedly with serious ecological and social consequences that can reinforce poverty. Resilience thinking can help to (i) understand how these failures emerge from the complex relationships between humans and the ecosystems on which they depend and (ii) navigate diverse poverty alleviation strategies, such as transformative change, that may instead be required. First, we review commonly observed or assumed social-ecological relationships in rural development contexts, focusing on economic, biophysical, and cultural aspects of poverty. Second, we develop a classification of poverty alleviation strategies using insights from resilience research on social-ecological change. Last, we use these advances to develop stylized, multidimensional poverty trap models. The models show that (i) interventions that ignore nature and culture can reinforce poverty (particularly in agrobiodiverse landscapes), (ii) transformative change can instead open new pathways for poverty alleviation, and (iii) asset inputs may be effective in other contexts (for example, where resource degradation and poverty are tightly interlinked). Our model-based approach and insights offer a systematic way to review the consequences of the causal mechanisms that characterize poverty traps in different agricultural contexts and identify appropriate strategies for rural development challenges.

Manager Perspectives on Communication and Public ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

We argue that public engagement is crucial to achieving lasting ecological success in aquatic restoration efforts, and that the most effective public engagement mechanisms are what we term iterative mechanisms. Here we look to a particular social-ecological system – the restoration community in Rhode Island, U.S.A. and the rivers, wetlands, marshes, and estuaries, and their related species, that they work to protect – to better understand land managers’ perspectives on public engagement in restoration processes. Adopting an inductive approach to critical discourse analysis of interviews with 27 local, state, and federal restoration managers and the forms of public interaction they described, we identify three distinct models of public engagement in natural resources management employed by managers: unidirectional; bidirectional; and iterative. While unidirectional and bidirectional mechanisms can help managers achieve short-term ecological successes, we suggest that adopting an iterative approach can improve the quality of stakeholder and learning interactions and, subsequently, foster lasting ecological successes. We argue that managers can design deliberately for public engagement mechanisms that are best suited to projects in particular social-ecological systems in order to create restoration projects that achieve ecological, learning, and stakeholder successes. We attempt to synthesize the lessons learned from efforts at public engagement in restoratio

Marine reserves as linked social-ecological systems.

PubMed

Pollnac, Richard; Christie, Patrick; Cinner, Joshua E; Dalton, Tracey; Daw, Tim M; Forrester, Graham E; Graham, Nicholas A J; McClanahan, Timothy R

2010-10-26

Marine reserves are increasingly recognized as having linked social and ecological dynamics. This study investigates how the ecological performance of 56 marine reserves throughout the Philippines, Caribbean, and Western Indian Ocean (WIO) is related to both reserve design features and the socioeconomic characteristics in associated coastal communities. Ecological performance was measured as fish biomass in the reserve relative to nearby areas. Of the socioeconomic variables considered, human population density and compliance with reserve rules had the strongest effects on fish biomass, but the effects of these variables were region specific. Relationships between population density and the reserve effect on fish biomass were negative in the Caribbean, positive in the WIO, and not detectable in the Philippines. Differing associations between population density and reserve effectiveness defy simple explanation but may depend on human migration to effective reserves, depletion of fish stocks outside reserves, or other social factors that change with population density. Higher levels of compliance reported by resource users was related to higher fish biomass in reserves compared with outside, but this relationship was only statistically significant in the Caribbean. A heuristic model based on correlations between social, cultural, political, economic, and other contextual conditions in 127 marine reserves showed that high levels of compliance with reserve rules were related to complex social interactions rather than simply to enforcement of reserve rules. Comparative research of this type is important for uncovering the complexities surrounding human dimensions of marine reserves and improving reserve management.

The dynamic of urban and protected areas at Balai Raja Wildlife Reserve, Riau, Indonesia: a social ecology approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suwondo; Darmadi; Yunus, M.

2018-01-01

The development process has resulted in deforestation. A comprehensive study is needed to obtain an objective solution by integrating the ecological dimension and human dimension. This study was conducted within Balai Raja Wildlife Reserve (BRWR), Bengkalis Regency, Riau Province, Indonesia. We used the social-ecological systems (SES) approach based on local characteristics, categorized into ecological status, social status and actors. Each factoris ranked using Multi-Dimensional Scaling (MDS).BRWR sustainability levels are in moderate condition. The ecological dimension is in a less sustainable state, with leverage: (1) forest conversion; (2) local ecological knowledge; (3) high conservation value. The social dimension is in a less sustainable state, with leverage: (1) community empowerment; (2) social conflict; (3) participation in landscape management. Dimensions actors are on a fairly sustainable status, with leverage: (1) institutional interaction; (2) stakeholder’s commitment; (3) law enforcement. We recommend strengthening community empowerment, local ecological knowledge, interaction, and stakeholder commitment

Social network models predict movement and connectivity in ecological landscapes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fletcher, R.J.; Acevedo, M.A.; Reichert, Brian E.; Pias, Kyle E.; Kitchens, W.M.

2011-01-01

Network analysis is on the rise across scientific disciplines because of its ability to reveal complex, and often emergent, patterns and dynamics. Nonetheless, a growing concern in network analysis is the use of limited data for constructing networks. This concern is strikingly relevant to ecology and conservation biology, where network analysis is used to infer connectivity across landscapes. In this context, movement among patches is the crucial parameter for interpreting connectivity but because of the difficulty of collecting reliable movement data, most network analysis proceeds with only indirect information on movement across landscapes rather than using observed movement to construct networks. Statistical models developed for social networks provide promising alternatives for landscape network construction because they can leverage limited movement information to predict linkages. Using two mark-recapture datasets on individual movement and connectivity across landscapes, we test whether commonly used network constructions for interpreting connectivity can predict actual linkages and network structure, and we contrast these approaches to social network models. We find that currently applied network constructions for assessing connectivity consistently, and substantially, overpredict actual connectivity, resulting in considerable overestimation of metapopulation lifetime. Furthermore, social network models provide accurate predictions of network structure, and can do so with remarkably limited data on movement. Social network models offer a flexible and powerful way for not only understanding the factors influencing connectivity but also for providing more reliable estimates of connectivity and metapopulation persistence in the face of limited data.

Social-ecological network analysis of scale mismatches in estuary watershed restoration.

PubMed

Sayles, Jesse S; Baggio, Jacopo A

2017-03-07

Resource management boundaries seldom align with environmental systems, which can lead to social and ecological problems. Mapping and analyzing how resource management organizations in different areas collaborate can provide vital information to help overcome such misalignment. Few quantitative approaches exist, however, to analyze social collaborations alongside environmental patterns, especially among local and regional organizations (i.e., in multilevel governance settings). This paper develops and applies such an approach using social-ecological network analysis (SENA), which considers relationships among and between social and ecological units. The framework and methods are shown using an estuary restoration case from Puget Sound, United States. Collaboration patterns and quality are analyzed among local and regional organizations working in hydrologically connected areas. These patterns are correlated with restoration practitioners' assessments of the productivity of their collaborations to inform network theories for natural resource governance. The SENA is also combined with existing ecological data to jointly consider social and ecological restoration concerns. Results show potentially problematic areas in nearshore environments, where collaboration networks measured by density (percentage of possible network connections) and productivity are weakest. Many areas also have high centralization (a few nodes hold the network together), making network cohesion dependent on key organizations. Although centralization and productivity are inversely related, no clear relationship between density and productivity is observed. This research can help practitioners to identify where governance capacity needs strengthening and jointly consider social and ecological concerns. It advances SENA by developing a multilevel approach to assess social-ecological (or social-environmental) misalignments, also known as scale mismatches.

Teaching Organization Theory and Practice: An Experiential and Reflective Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cameron, Mark; Turkiewicz, Rita M.; Holdaway, Britt A.; Bill, Jacqueline S.; Goodman, Jessica; Bonner, Aisha; Daly, Stacey; Cohen, Michael D.; Lorenz, Cassandra; Wilson, Paul R.; Rusk, James

2009-01-01

The organization is often the overlooked level in social work's ecological perspective. However, organizational realities exert a profound influence on human development and well-being as well as the nature and quality of social work practice. This article describes a model of teaching organization theory and practice which requires master's…

Linking ecological and social scales for natural resource management

Treesearch

Kristiina A. Vogt; Morgan Grove; Heidi Asjornsen; Keely B. Maxwell; Daniel J. Vogt; Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir; Bruce C. Larson; Leo Schibli; Michael Dove

2002-01-01

Natural resource management has moved from a single disciplinary and one resource management approach to an interdisciplinary and ecosystem-based approach. Many conceptual models are being developed to understand and implement ecosystem management and forest certification initiatives that require an integration of data from both the social and natural systems (Vogt...

Political Violence and Child Adjustment: Longitudinal Tests of Sectarian Antisocial Behavior, Family Conflict and Insecurity as Explanatory Pathways

PubMed Central

Cummings, E. Mark; Merrilees, Christine E.; Schermerhorn, Alice C.; Goeke-Morey, Marcie C.; Shirlow, Peter; Cairns, Ed

2011-01-01

Understanding the impact of political violence on child maladjustment is a matter of international concern. Recent research has advanced a social ecological explanation for relations between political violence and child adjustment. However, conclusions are qualified by the lack of longitudinal tests. Towards examining pathways longitudinally, mothers and their adolescents (M = 12.33, SD =1.78, at time 1) from two-parent families in Catholic and Protestant working class neighborhoods in Belfast, Northern Ireland, completed measures assessing multiple levels of a social ecological model. Utilizing autoregressive controls, a three-wave longitudinal model test (T1, n = 299; T2, n = 248; T3, n = 197) supported a specific pathway linking sectarian community violence, family conflict, children’s insecurity about family relationships, and adjustment problems. PMID:22313052

Strategic behaviors and governance challenges in social-ecological systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muneepeerakul, Rachata; Anderies, John M.

2017-08-01

The resource management and environmental policy literature focuses on devising regulations and incentive structures to achieve desirable goals. It often presumes the existence of public infrastructure that actualizes these incentives and regulations through a process loosely referred to as `governance.' In many cases, it is not clear if and how such governance infrastructure can be created and supported. Here, we take a complex systems view in which `governance' is an emergent phenomenon generated by interactions between social, economic, and environmental (both built and natural) factors. We present a framework and formal stylized model to explore under what circumstances stable governance structures may emerge endogenously in coupled infrastructure systems comprising shared natural, social, and built infrastructures of which social-ecological systems are specific examples. The model allows us to derive general conditions for a sustainable coupled infrastructure system in which critical infrastructure (e.g., canals) is provided by a governing entity that enables resource users (e.g., farmers) to produce outputs from natural infrastructure (e.g., water) to meet their needs while supporting the governing entity.

Impact of social service and public health spending on teenage birth rates across the USA: an ecological study

PubMed Central

Sipsma, Heather L; Canavan, Maureen; Gilliam, Melissa; Bradley, Elizabeth

2017-01-01

Objective To examine whether greater state-level spending on social and public health services such as income, education and public safety is associated with lower rates of teenage births in USA. Design Ecological study. Setting USA. Participants 50 states. Primary outcome measure Our primary outcome measure was teenage birth rates. For analyses, we constructed marginal models using repeated measures to test the effect of social spending on teenage birth rates, accounting for several potential confounders. Results The unadjusted and adjusted models across all years demonstrated significant effects of spending and suggested that higher spending rates were associated with lower rates of teenage birth, with effects slightly diminishing with each increase in spending (linear effect: B=−0.20; 95% CI −0.31 to 0.08; p<0.001 and quadratic effect: B=0.003; 95% CI 0.002 to 0.005; p<0.001). Conclusion Higher state spending on social and public health services is associated with lower rates of teenage births. As states seek ways to limit healthcare costs associated with teenage birth rates, our findings suggest that protecting existing social service investments will be critical. PMID:28611088

A social ecological conceptual framework for understanding adolescent health literacy in the health education classroom.

PubMed

Wharf Higgins, Joan; Begoray, Deborah; MacDonald, Marjorie

2009-12-01

With the rising concern over chronic health conditions and their prevention and management, health literacy is emerging as an important public health issue. As with the development of other forms of literacy, the ability for students to be able to access, understand, evaluate and communicate health information is a skill best developed during their years of public schooling. Health education curricula offer one approach to develop health literacy, yet little is known about its influence on neither students nor their experiences within an educational context. In this article, we describe our experience applying a social ecological model to investigating the implementation of a health education curriculum in four high schools in British Columbia, Canada. We used the model to guide a conceptual understanding of health literacy, develop research questions, select data collection strategies, and interpret the findings. Reflections and recommendations for using the model are offered.

Participatory modeling of recreation and tourism

Treesearch

Lisa C. Chase; Roelof M.J. Boumans; Stephanie Morse

2007-01-01

Communities involved in recreation and tourism planning need to understand the broad range of benefits and challenges--economic, social, and ecological--in order to make informed decisions. Participatory computer modeling is a methodology that involves a community in the process of collectively building a model about a particular situation that affects participants...

What determines social capital in a social-ecological system? Insights from a network perspective.

PubMed

Barnes-Mauthe, Michele; Gray, Steven Allen; Arita, Shawn; Lynham, John; Leung, PingSun

2015-02-01

Social capital is an important resource that can be mobilized for purposive action or competitive gain. The distribution of social capital in social-ecological systems can determine who is more productive at extracting ecological resources and who emerges as influential in guiding their management, thereby empowering some while disempowering others. Despite its importance, the factors that contribute to variation in social capital among individuals have not been widely studied. We adopt a network perspective to examine what determines social capital among individuals in social-ecological systems. We begin by identifying network measures of social capital relevant for individuals in this context, and review existing evidence concerning their determinants. Using a complete social network dataset from Hawaii's longline fishery, we employ social network analysis and other statistical methods to empirically estimate these measures and determine the extent to which individual stakeholder attributes explain variation within them. We find that ethnicity is the strongest predictor of social capital. Measures of human capital (i.e., education, experience), years living in the community, and information-sharing attitudes are also important. Surprisingly, we find that when controlling for other factors, industry leaders and formal fishery representatives are generally not well connected. Our results offer new quantitative insights on the relationship between stakeholder diversity, social networks, and social capital in a coupled social-ecological system, which can aid in identifying barriers and opportunities for action to overcome resource management problems. Our results also have implications for achieving resource governance that is not only ecologically and economically sustainable, but also equitable.

What Determines Social Capital in a Social-Ecological System? Insights from a Network Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barnes-Mauthe, Michele; Gray, Steven Allen; Arita, Shawn; Lynham, John; Leung, PingSun

2015-02-01

Social capital is an important resource that can be mobilized for purposive action or competitive gain. The distribution of social capital in social-ecological systems can determine who is more productive at extracting ecological resources and who emerges as influential in guiding their management, thereby empowering some while disempowering others. Despite its importance, the factors that contribute to variation in social capital among individuals have not been widely studied. We adopt a network perspective to examine what determines social capital among individuals in social-ecological systems. We begin by identifying network measures of social capital relevant for individuals in this context, and review existing evidence concerning their determinants. Using a complete social network dataset from Hawaii's longline fishery, we employ social network analysis and other statistical methods to empirically estimate these measures and determine the extent to which individual stakeholder attributes explain variation within them. We find that ethnicity is the strongest predictor of social capital. Measures of human capital (i.e., education, experience), years living in the community, and information-sharing attitudes are also important. Surprisingly, we find that when controlling for other factors, industry leaders and formal fishery representatives are generally not well connected. Our results offer new quantitative insights on the relationship between stakeholder diversity, social networks, and social capital in a coupled social-ecological system, which can aid in identifying barriers and opportunities for action to overcome resource management problems. Our results also have implications for achieving resource governance that is not only ecologically and economically sustainable, but also equitable.

Graduate students navigating social-ecological research: insights from the Long-Term Ecological Research Network

Treesearch

Sydne Record; Paige F. B. Ferguson; Elise Benveniste; Rose A. Graves; Vera W. Pfeiffer; Michele Romolini; Christie E. Yorke; Ben Beardmore

2016-01-01

Interdisciplinary, collaborative research capable of capturing the feedbacks between biophysical and social systems can improve the capacity for sustainable environmental decision making. Networks of researchers provide unique opportunities to foster social-ecological inquiry. Although insights into interdisciplinary research have been discussed elsewhere,...

Good Prospects: Ecological and Social Perspectives on Conforming, Creating, and Caring in Conversation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hodges, Bert H.

2007-01-01

Ecological approaches (e.g. [Gibson, J.J., 1979. "The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception." Houghton-Mifflin, Boston]) to psychology and language are selectively reviewed, focusing on social learning. Is social learning (e.g., acquiring language) a matter of conformity [Tomasello, M., 2006. "Acquiring linguistic…

Participative Spatial Scenario Analysis for Alpine Ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Marina; Stotten, Rike; Steinbacher, Melanie; Leitinger, Georg; Tasser, Erich; Schirpke, Uta; Tappeiner, Ulrike; Schermer, Markus

2017-10-01

Land use and land cover patterns are shaped by the interplay of human and ecological processes. Thus, heterogeneous cultural landscapes have developed, delivering multiple ecosystem services. To guarantee human well-being, the development of land use types has to be evaluated. Scenario development and land use and land cover change models are well-known tools for assessing future landscape changes. However, as social and ecological systems are inextricably linked, land use-related management decisions are difficult to identify. The concept of social-ecological resilience can thereby provide a framework for understanding complex interlinkages on multiple scales and from different disciplines. In our study site (Stubai Valley, Tyrol/Austria), we applied a sequence of steps including the characterization of the social-ecological system and identification of key drivers that influence farmers' management decisions. We then developed three scenarios, i.e., "trend", "positive" and "negative" future development of farming conditions and assessed respective future land use changes. Results indicate that within the "trend" and "positive" scenarios pluri-activity (various sources of income) prevents considerable changes in land use and land cover and promotes the resilience of farming systems. Contrarily, reductions in subsidies and changes in consumer behavior are the most important key drivers in the negative scenario and lead to distinct abandonment of grassland, predominantly in the sub-alpine zone of our study site. Our conceptual approach, i.e., the combination of social and ecological methods and the integration of local stakeholders' knowledge into spatial scenario analysis, resulted in highly detailed and spatially explicit results that can provide a basis for further community development recommendations.

Participative Spatial Scenario Analysis for Alpine Ecosystems.

PubMed

Kohler, Marina; Stotten, Rike; Steinbacher, Melanie; Leitinger, Georg; Tasser, Erich; Schirpke, Uta; Tappeiner, Ulrike; Schermer, Markus

2017-10-01

Land use and land cover patterns are shaped by the interplay of human and ecological processes. Thus, heterogeneous cultural landscapes have developed, delivering multiple ecosystem services. To guarantee human well-being, the development of land use types has to be evaluated. Scenario development and land use and land cover change models are well-known tools for assessing future landscape changes. However, as social and ecological systems are inextricably linked, land use-related management decisions are difficult to identify. The concept of social-ecological resilience can thereby provide a framework for understanding complex interlinkages on multiple scales and from different disciplines. In our study site (Stubai Valley, Tyrol/Austria), we applied a sequence of steps including the characterization of the social-ecological system and identification of key drivers that influence farmers' management decisions. We then developed three scenarios, i.e., "trend", "positive" and "negative" future development of farming conditions and assessed respective future land use changes. Results indicate that within the "trend" and "positive" scenarios pluri-activity (various sources of income) prevents considerable changes in land use and land cover and promotes the resilience of farming systems. Contrarily, reductions in subsidies and changes in consumer behavior are the most important key drivers in the negative scenario and lead to distinct abandonment of grassland, predominantly in the sub-alpine zone of our study site. Our conceptual approach, i.e., the combination of social and ecological methods and the integration of local stakeholders' knowledge into spatial scenario analysis, resulted in highly detailed and spatially explicit results that can provide a basis for further community development recommendations.

Upending the social ecological model to guide health promotion efforts toward policy and environmental change.

PubMed

Golden, Shelley D; McLeroy, Kenneth R; Green, Lawrence W; Earp, Jo Anne L; Lieberman, Lisa D

2015-04-01

Efforts to change policies and the environments in which people live, work, and play have gained increasing attention over the past several decades. Yet health promotion frameworks that illustrate the complex processes that produce health-enhancing structural changes are limited. Building on the experiences of health educators, community activists, and community-based researchers described in this supplement and elsewhere, as well as several political, social, and behavioral science theories, we propose a new framework to organize our thinking about producing policy, environmental, and other structural changes. We build on the social ecological model, a framework widely employed in public health research and practice, by turning it inside out, placing health-related and other social policies and environments at the center, and conceptualizing the ways in which individuals, their social networks, and organized groups produce a community context that fosters healthy policy and environmental development. We conclude by describing how health promotion practitioners and researchers can foster structural change by (1) conveying the health and social relevance of policy and environmental change initiatives, (2) building partnerships to support them, and (3) promoting more equitable distributions of the resources necessary for people to meet their daily needs, control their lives, and freely participate in the public sphere. © 2015 Society for Public Health Education.

The dual impact of ecology and management on social incentives in marine common-pool resource systems.

PubMed

Klein, E S; Barbier, M R; Watson, J R

2017-08-01

Understanding how and when cooperative human behaviour forms in common-pool resource systems is critical to illuminating social-ecological systems and designing governance institutions that promote sustainable resource use. Before assessing the full complexity of social dynamics, it is essential to understand, concretely and mechanistically, how resource dynamics and human actions interact to create incentives and pay-offs for social behaviours. Here, we investigated how such incentives for information sharing are affected by spatial dynamics and management in a common-pool resource system. Using interviews with fishermen to inform an agent-based model, we reveal generic mechanisms through which, for a given ecological setting characterized by the spatial dynamics of the resource, the two 'human factors' of information sharing and management may heterogeneously impact various members of a group for whom theory would otherwise predict the same strategy. When users can deplete the resource, these interactions are further affected by the management approach. Finally, we discuss the implications of alternative motivations, such as equity among fishermen and consistency of the fleet's output. Our results indicate that resource spatial dynamics, form of management and level of depletion can interact to alter the sociality of people in common-pool resource systems, providing necessary insight for future study of strategic decision processes.

Can law foster social-ecological resilience?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Garmestani, Ahjond S.; Allen, Craig R.; Benson, Melinda H.

2013-01-01

Law plays an essential role in shaping natural resource and environmental policy, but unfortunately, many environmental laws were developed around the prevailing scientific understanding that there was a “balance of nature” that could be managed and sustained. This view assumes that natural resource managers have the capacity to predict the behavior of ecological systems, know what its important functional components are, and successfully predict the outcome of management interventions. This paper takes on this problem by summarizing and synthesizing the contributions to this Special Feature (Law and Social-Ecological Resilience, Part I: Contributions from Resilience 2011), focusing on the interaction of law and social-ecological resilience, and then offering recommendations for the integration of law and social-ecological resilience.

A systematic literature review of sport and physical activity participation in culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) migrant populations.

PubMed

O'Driscoll, Téa; Banting, Lauren Kate; Borkoles, Erika; Eime, Rochelle; Polman, Remco

2014-06-01

Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) migrants face significant health risks as they adapt to new cultures. These risks are exacerbated by their limited participation in preventative behaviours such as sports and physical activity. The review aimed to identify studies that examined the correlates of sport and physical activity participation in migrants. The systematic review identified 72 papers, including 6 interventions, 18 qualitative and 48 quantitative studies. The 44 identified correlates highlight the complexities involved in working with migrants. The correlates were grouped in four themes using the social ecological model; acculturation, demographic, psychosocial and environmental/organisational. The social ecological model identified general correlates such as social support and safety. However, there were unique correlates relating to individuals who are facing cultural changes such as acculturation and language. Overall, there is a lack of contextualisation of CALD migrants' sport and physical activity experiences because many studies fail to consider acculturation comprehensively.

Ecological Models of Sexual Satisfaction among Lesbian/Bisexual and Heterosexual Women

PubMed Central

Henderson, Alison W.; Simoni, Jane M.

2014-01-01

Sexual satisfaction is an integral component of sexual health and well-being, yet we know little about which factors contribute to it among lesbian/bisexual women. To examine a proposed ecological model of sexual satisfaction, we conducted an internet survey of married heterosexual women and lesbian/bisexual women in committed same-sex relationships. Structural equation modeling included five final latent variables for heterosexual women and seven final latent variables for lesbian/bisexual women. Overall, results indicated that, for both groups of women, a similar constellation of factors (depressive symptoms, relationship satisfaction, sexual functioning, and social support) was related to sexual satisfaction. In lesbian/bisexual women, internalized homophobia was an additional factor. Contrary to expectations, the presence of children in the home and a history of childhood sexual abuse did not contribute significantly to the model for either group. Findings support the idea that gender socialization may influence sexual satisfaction more than socialization around sexual orientation. Additionally, given that for both groups of women relationship satisfaction explained a substantial amount of variance in sexual satisfaction, sexual concerns may be better addressed at the relationship than the individual level. PMID:18574685

Ethical Considerations for Conducting Health Disparities Research in Community Health Centers: A Social-Ecological Perspective

PubMed Central

Scott, Ebony; Melendez, Jennifer; Rodriguez, Anna; Ramos, Rosio; Kanna, Balavenkatesh; Michelen, Walid

2013-01-01

Community health centers (CHCs) provide optimal research settings. They serve a high-risk, medically underserved population in the greatest need of intervention. Low socioeconomic status renders this population particularly vulnerable to research misconduct. Traditional principles of research ethics are often applied to participants only. The social-ecological model offers a comprehensive framework for applying these principles across multiple levels (participants, providers, organizations, communities, and policy). Our experience with the Trial Using Motivational Interviewing, Positive Affect and Self-Affirmation in African-Americans with Hypertension, a randomized trial conducted in CHCs, led us to propose a new platform for discussing research ethics; examine the social, community, and political factors surrounding research conducted in CHCs; and recommend how future research should be conducted in such settings. PMID:24134347

Ethical considerations for conducting health disparities research in community health centers: a social-ecological perspective.

PubMed

Boutin-Foster, Carla; Scott, Ebony; Melendez, Jennifer; Rodriguez, Anna; Ramos, Rosio; Kanna, Balavenkatesh; Michelen, Walid

2013-12-01

Community health centers (CHCs) provide optimal research settings. They serve a high-risk, medically underserved population in the greatest need of intervention. Low socioeconomic status renders this population particularly vulnerable to research misconduct. Traditional principles of research ethics are often applied to participants only. The social-ecological model offers a comprehensive framework for applying these principles across multiple levels (participants, providers, organizations, communities, and policy). Our experience with the Trial Using Motivational Interviewing, Positive Affect and Self-Affirmation in African-Americans with Hypertension, a randomized trial conducted in CHCs, led us to propose a new platform for discussing research ethics; examine the social, community, and political factors surrounding research conducted in CHCs; and recommend how future research should be conducted in such settings.

The Burden of Disaster: Part II. Applying Interventions Across the Child’s Social Ecology

PubMed Central

Pfefferbaum, Rose L.; Pfefferbaum, Betty; Jacobs, Anne K.; Noffsinger, Mary A.; Sherrieb, Kathleen; Norris, Fran H.

2014-01-01

This second of two articles describes the application of disaster mental health interventions within the context of the child’s social ecology consisting of (he Micro-, Meso-, Exo-, and Macrosystems. Microsystem interventions involving parents, siblings, and close friends include family preparedness planning and practice, psychoeducation, role modeling, emotional support, and redirection. Mesosystem interventions provided by schools and faith-based organizations include safety and support, assessment, referral, and counseling. Exosystem interventions include those provided through community-based mental health programs, healthcare organizations, the workplace, the media, local volunteer disaster organizations, and other local organizations. Efforts to build community resilience to disasters are likely to have influence through the Exosystem. The Macrosystem – including the laws, history, cultural and subcultural characteristics, and economic and social conditions that underlie the other systems – affects the child indirectly through public policies and disaster programs and services that become available in the child’s Exosystem in the aftermath of a disaster. The social ecology paradigm, described more fully in a companion article (Noffsinger, Pfefferbaum, Pfefferbaum, Sherrieb, & Norris,2012), emphasizes relationships among systems and can guide the development and delivery of services embedded in naturally-occurring structures in the child’s environment. PMID:23894798

The burden of disaster: part II. applying interventions across the child's social ecology.

PubMed

Pfefferbaum, Rose L; Jacobs, Anne K; Noffsinger, Mary A; Pfefferbaum, Betty; Sherrieb, Kathleen; Norris, Fran H

2012-01-01

This second of two articles describes the application of disaster mental health interventions within the context of the childs social ecology consisting of the Micro-, Meso-, Exo-, and Macrosystems. Microsystem interventions involving parents, siblings, and close friends include family preparedness planning andpractice, psychoeducation, role modeling, emotional support, and redirection. Mesosystem interventions provided by schools and faith-based organizations include safety and support, assessment, referral, and counseling. Exosystem interventions include those provided through community-based mental health programs, healthcare organizations, the workplace, the media, local volunteer disaster organizations, and other local organizations. Efforts to build community resilience to disasters are likely to have influence through the Exosystem. The Macrosystem - including the laws, history, cultural and subcultural characteristics, and economic and social conditions that underlie the other systems - affects the child indirectly through public policies and disaster programs and services that become available in the child's Exosystem in the aftermath of a disaster The social ecology paradigm, described more fully in a companion article (Noffsinger Pfefferbaum, Pfefferbaum, Sherrieb, & Norris,2012), emphasizes relationships among systems and can guide the development and delivery of services embedded in naturally-occurring structures in the child's environment.

The Implications of Ecologically Based Assessment for Primary Prevention with Indigenous Youth Populations

PubMed Central

Okamoto, Scott K.; LeCroy, Craig Winston; Tann, Sheila S.; Rayle, Andrea Dixon; Kulis, Stephen; Dustman, Patricia; Berceli, David

2011-01-01

This paper describes a five-stage approach toward conducting an ecologically based assessment with Indigenous youth populations, and the implications of this approach for the development and implementation of culturally grounded prevention interventions. A description of a pilot study funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH/NIDA) focused on drug use and American Indian youth is presented as one model for operationalizing ecologically based assessment with Indigenous youth populations, and issues related to translating the pilot study into a prevention intervention are discussed. This paper suggests that ecologically based assessment can serve as a foundation for culturally grounded prevention interventions, promoting the social and ecological validity of those interventions. PMID:16534658

Protected areas as social-ecological systems: perspectives from resilience and social-ecological systems theory.

PubMed

Cumming, Graeme S; Allen, Craig R

2017-09-01

Conservation biology and applied ecology increasingly recognize that natural resource management is both an outcome and a driver of social, economic, and ecological dynamics. Protected areas offer a fundamental approach to conserving ecosystems, but they are also social-ecological systems whose ecological management and sustainability are heavily influenced by people. This editorial, and the papers in the invited feature that it introduces, discuss three emerging themes in social-ecological systems approaches to understanding protected areas: (1) the resilience and sustainability of protected areas, including analyses of their internal dynamics, their effectiveness, and the resilience of the landscapes within which they occur; (2) the relevance of spatial context and scale for protected areas, including such factors as geographic connectivity, context, exchanges between protected areas and their surrounding landscapes, and scale dependency in the provision of ecosystem services; and (3) efforts to reframe what protected areas are and how they both define and are defined by the relationships of people and nature. These emerging themes have the potential to transform management and policy approaches for protected areas and have important implications for conservation, in both theory and practice. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

[Discussion on agricultural product quality and safety problem from ecological view].

PubMed

Xiao, Ming; Dong, Nan; Lyu, Xin

2015-08-01

There are many different perspectives about the sustainable agriculture, which had been proposed since the last three decades in the world. While China's ecologists and agronomists proposed a similar concept named 'ecological agriculture'. Although ecological agriculture in China has achieved substantial progress, including theory, models and supporting technologies nearly several decades of practice and development, its application guidance still is not yet clear. The organic agriculture model proposed by European Union is popular, but it is limited in the beneficiary groups and the social and ecological responsibility. In this context, the article based on an ecological point of view, analyzed the shortcomings of ecological imbalance caused by a single mode of agricultural production and the negative impact on the quality of agricultural products, and discussed the core values of ecological agriculture. On this basis, we put forward the concept of sustainable security of agricultural products. Based on this concept, an agricultural platform was established under the healthy ecosysphere environment, and from this agricultural platform, agricultural products could be safely and sustainably obtained. Around the central value of the concept, we designed the agricultural sustainable and security production model. Finally, we compared the responsibility, benefiting groups, agronomic practices selection and other aspects of sustainable agriculture with organic agriculture, and proved the advancement of sustainable agricultural model in agricultural production quality and safety.

Parsing protection and risk for problem behavior versus pro-social behavior among US and Chinese adolescents.

PubMed

Jessor, Richard; Turbin, Mark S

2014-07-01

This study investigates the different roles played by protective factors and risk factors-and by particular protective and risk factors-when the concern is with accounting for adolescent problem behavior than when the concern is with accounting for adolescent pro-social behavior. The protective and risk factor literature on adolescent problem behavior reveals considerable conceptual and operational ambiguity; an aim of the present study was to advance understanding in this domain of inquiry by providing a systematic conceptualization of protection and risk and of their measurement. Within the systematic framework of Problem Behavior Theory, four protective and four risk factors are assessed in a cross-national study of both problem behavior and pro-social behavior involving large adolescent samples in China (N = 1,368) and the US (N = 1,087), in grades 9, 10, and 11; females 56 %, US; 50 %, China. The findings reveal quite different roles for protection and risk, and for particular protective and risk factors, when the outcome criterion is problem behavior than when it is pro-social behavior. The protective factor, Controls Protection, which engages rule and regulations and sanctions in the adolescent's ecology, emerges as most important in influencing problem behavior, but it plays a relatively minor role in relationship to pro-social behavior. By contrast, Models Protection, the presence of pro-social models in the adolescent's ecology, and Support Protection, the presence of interest and care in that same ecology, have no significant relationship to problem behavior variation, but they are both the major predictors of variation in pro-social behavior. The findings are robust across the samples from the two very diverse societies. These results suggest that greater attention be given to protection in problem behavior research and that a more nuanced perspective is needed about the roles that particular protective and risk factors play in reducing problem behavior and in promoting pro-social behavior.

Social-Ecological Resilience and Environmental Education: Synopsis, Application, Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plummer, Ryan

2010-01-01

The resilience approach is rooted in ecology and is being advanced as a means to understand change in social-ecological systems. How can resilience be applied to understanding change in social systems, including in environmental education? In probing this question the main resilience approaches are described, the manner in which they may be…

A conceptual framework for the study of human ecosystems in urban areas

Treesearch

Steward T.A. Pickett; William R. Burch; Shawn E. Dalton; Timothy W. Foresman; J. Morgan Grove; Rowan Rowntree

1997-01-01

The need for integrated concepts, capable of satisfying natural and social scientists and supporting integrated research, motivates a conceptual framework for understanding the role of humans in ecosystems. The question is how to add humans to the ecological models used to understand urban ecosystems. The ecosystem concept can serve as the basis, but specific social...

Sexuality Education: Implications for Health, Equity, and Social Justice in the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elia, John P.; Tokunaga, Jessica

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how school-based sexuality education has had a long and troubled history of exclusionary pedagogical practices that have negatively affected such populations as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer (LGBTQ) individuals, people of color, and the disabled. The social ecological model is introduced as a…

On the Origin of Genres by Natural Selection: Inventing Genres Online.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunt, Russell A.

The study of discourse genres as social action has steadily displaced more traditional views of genre, proposing the organic and ecological model that any consistent pattern of response to a recurrent rhetorical situation might constitute a genre. Observation of the life cycles of genres as transient social events can occur in a classroom using…

Dynamic social networks based on movement

USGS Publications Warehouse

Scharf, Henry; Hooten, Mevin B.; Fosdick, Bailey K.; Johnson, Devin S.; London, Joshua M.; Durban, John W.

2016-01-01

Network modeling techniques provide a means for quantifying social structure in populations of individuals. Data used to define social connectivity are often expensive to collect and based on case-specific, ad hoc criteria. Moreover, in applications involving animal social networks, collection of these data is often opportunistic and can be invasive. Frequently, the social network of interest for a given population is closely related to the way individuals move. Thus, telemetry data, which are minimally invasive and relatively inexpensive to collect, present an alternative source of information. We develop a framework for using telemetry data to infer social relationships among animals. To achieve this, we propose a Bayesian hierarchical model with an underlying dynamic social network controlling movement of individuals via two mechanisms: an attractive effect and an aligning effect. We demonstrate the model and its ability to accurately identify complex social behavior in simulation, and apply our model to telemetry data arising from killer whales. Using auxiliary information about the study population, we investigate model validity and find the inferred dynamic social network is consistent with killer whale ecology and expert knowledge.

What can music tell us about social interaction?

PubMed

D'Ausilio, Alessandro; Novembre, Giacomo; Fadiga, Luciano; Keller, Peter E

2015-03-01

Humans are innately social creatures, but cognitive neuroscience, that has traditionally focused on individual brains, is only now beginning to investigate social cognition through realistic interpersonal interaction. Music provides an ideal domain for doing so because it offers a promising solution for balancing the trade-off between ecological validity and experimental control when testing cognitive and brain functions. Musical ensembles constitute a microcosm that provides a platform for parametrically modeling the complexity of human social interaction. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Eco-HAB as a fully automated and ecologically relevant assessment of social impairments in mouse models of autism.

PubMed

Puścian, Alicja; Łęski, Szymon; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Winiarski, Maciej; Borowska, Joanna; Nikolaev, Tomasz; Boguszewski, Paweł M; Lipp, Hans-Peter; Knapska, Ewelina

2016-10-12

Eco-HAB is an open source, RFID-based system for automated measurement and analysis of social preference and in-cohort sociability in mice. The system closely follows murine ethology. It requires no contact between a human experimenter and tested animals, overcoming the confounding factors that lead to irreproducible assessment of murine social behavior between laboratories. In Eco-HAB, group-housed animals live in a spacious, four-compartment apparatus with shadowed areas and narrow tunnels, resembling natural burrows. Eco-HAB allows for assessment of the tendency of mice to voluntarily spend time together in ethologically relevant mouse group sizes. Custom-made software for automated tracking, data extraction, and analysis enables quick evaluation of social impairments. The developed protocols and standardized behavioral measures demonstrate high replicability. Unlike classic three-chambered sociability tests, Eco-HAB provides measurements of spontaneous, ecologically relevant social behaviors in group-housed animals. Results are obtained faster, with less manpower, and without confounding factors.

Emotion Discourse, Social Cognition, and Social Skills in Children with and without Developmental Delays

PubMed Central

Fenning, RM; Baker, BL; Juvonen, J

2009-01-01

This study examined parent-child emotion discourse, children’s independent social information processing, and social skills outcomes in 146 families of 8-year-olds with and without developmental delays. Children’s emergent social-cognitive understanding (internal state understanding, perspective taking, and causal reasoning/problem solving) was coded in the context of parent-child conversations about emotion, and children were interviewed separately to assess social problem solving. Mothers, fathers, and teachers reported on children’s social skills. The proposed strengths-based model partially accounted for social skills differences between typically developing children and children with delays. A multigroup analysis of the model linking emotion discourse to social skills through children’s prosocial problem solving suggested that processes operated similarly across the two groups. Implications for ecologically focused prevention and intervention are discussed. PMID:21410465

Can't play, won't play: longitudinal changes in perceived barriers to participation in sports clubs across the child-adolescent transition.

PubMed

Basterfield, Laura; Gardner, Lauren; Reilly, Jessica K; Pearce, Mark S; Parkinson, Kathryn N; Adamson, Ashley J; Reilly, John J; Vella, Stewart A

2016-01-01

Participation in sports is associated with numerous physical and psychosocial health benefits, however, participation declines with age, and knowledge of perceived barriers to participation in children is lacking. This longitudinal study of children and adolescents aimed to use the ecological model of physical activity to assess changes in barriers to participation in sports clubs to identify age-specific and weight-specific targets for intervention. Longitudinal study-Perceived barriers to sports participation were collected from a birth cohort, the Gateshead Millennium Study (n>500) at ages 9 and 12 years. The open-ended question 'Do you find it hard to take part in sports clubs for any reason?' was completed with free text and analysed using content analysis, and the social-ecological model of physical activity. Barriers from across the social-ecological model were reported. Barriers at 9 years were predominantly of a physical environmental nature, and required high parental involvement (for transport, money, permission), or were associated with a lack of suitable clubs. At 12 years, perceived barriers were predominantly classed as intrapersonal ('they're boring') or social environmental ('my friends don't go'). Perceived barriers were not associated with weight status. Perceived barriers to sports participation change rapidly in childhood and adolescence. Future interventions aiming to increase sports participation in children and adolescents should target specific age groups, should consider the rapid changes which occur in adolescence, and aim to address prominent barriers from across the socioecological model. Perceived barriers may be unrelated to current weight status, allowing for more inclusive solutions.

Sustaining coupled social-ecological marine systems in Mexico's Gulf of California region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leslie, H.

2016-02-01

Marine ecosystems provide many benefits to people, including food, protection from coastal storms, and places for recreation and spiritual renewal. These benefits are threatened by human impacts at multiple scales, including fisheries over-exploitation and global climatic change. More solutions-oriented knowledge of the connections between people and nature is urgently needed. I will discuss the approach my collaborators and I have developed to investigate the connections between people and marine ecosystems in the context of the small-scale fisheries of Mexico's Gulf of California. To illustrate the value of this coupled systems approach, I will present findings from two geographic scales. First, using a coupled bio-economic model based on several communities in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur (BCS), I will show how fishers' decisions are influenced by both climatic and institutional variation, and the consequences of these interactions for economic and ecological outcomes associated with fishing. Second, I will place these local-scale results in a broader context. Drawing on both natural and social science theory and data, I will show how environmental and institutional factors related to sustainability vary substantially throughout BCS. Fishing communities that exhibit greater potential for social-ecological sustainability in one dimension do not necessarily exhibit it in others. These results highlight the importance of integrative, coupled system analyses when implementing spatial planning and other ecosystem-based strategies and yield an understanding of the sustainability of coupled social-ecological systems that is quite distinct from that provided by either biophysical or social sciences alone.

Social-ecological interactions, management panaceas, and the future of wild fish populations

PubMed Central

van Poorten, Brett T.; Arlinghaus, Robert; Daedlow, Katrin; Haertel-Borer, Susanne S.

2011-01-01

We explored the social and ecological outcomes associated with emergence of a management panacea designed to govern a stochastic renewable natural resource. To that end, we constructed a model of a coupled social-ecological system of recreational fisheries in which a manager supports naturally fluctuating stocks by stocking fish in response to harvest-driven satisfaction of resource users. The realistic assumption of users remembering past harvest experiences when exploiting a stochastically fluctuating fish population facilitates the emergence of a stocking-based management panacea over time. The social benefits of panacea formation involve dampening natural population fluctuations and generating stability of user satisfaction. It also maintains the resource but promotes the eventual replacement of wild fish by hatchery-descended fish. Our analyses show this outcome is particularly likely when hatchery-descended fish are reasonably fit (e.g., characterized by similar survival relative to wild fish) and/or when natural recruitment of the wild population is low (e.g., attributable to habitat deterioration), which leaves the wild population with little buffer against competition by stocked fish. The potential for release-based panacea formation is particularly likely under user-based management regimes and should be common in a range of social-ecological systems (e.g., fisheries, forestry), whenever user groups are entitled to engage in release or replanting strategies. The net result will be the preservation of a renewable resource through user-based incentives, but the once natural populations are likely to be altered and to host nonnative genotypes. This risks other ecosystem services and the future of wild populations. PMID:21742983

How Ebola impacts social dynamics in gorillas: a multistate modelling approach.

PubMed

Genton, Céline; Pierre, Amandine; Cristescu, Romane; Lévréro, Florence; Gatti, Sylvain; Pierre, Jean-Sébastien; Ménard, Nelly; Le Gouar, Pascaline

2015-01-01

Emerging infectious diseases can induce rapid changes in population dynamics and threaten population persistence. In socially structured populations, the transfers of individuals between social units, for example, from breeding groups to non-breeding groups, shape population dynamics. We suggest that diseases may affect these crucial transfers. We aimed to determine how disturbance by an emerging disease affects demographic rates of gorillas, especially transfer rates within populations and immigration rates into populations. We compared social dynamics and key demographic parameters in a gorilla population affected by Ebola using a long-term observation data set including pre-, during and post-outbreak periods. We also studied a population of undetermined epidemiological status in order to assess whether this population was affected by the disease. We developed a multistate model that can handle transition between social units while optimizing the number of states. During the Ebola outbreak, social dynamics displayed increased transfers from a breeding to a non-breeding status for both males and females. Six years after the outbreak, demographic and most of social dynamics parameters had returned to their initial rates, suggesting a certain resilience in the response to disruption. The formation of breeding groups increased just after Ebola, indicating that environmental conditions were still attractive. However, population recovery was likely delayed because compensatory immigration was probably impeded by the potential impact of Ebola in the surrounding areas. The population of undetermined epidemiological status behaved similarly to the other population before Ebola. Our results highlight the need to integrate social dynamics in host-population demographic models to better understand the role of social structure in the sensitivity and the response to disease disturbances. © 2014 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2014 British Ecological Society.

Use of an Ecological Model to Study Sexual Satisfaction in a Heterosexual Spanish Sample.

PubMed

Del Mar Sánchez-Fuentes, María; Salinas, José María; Sierra, Juan Carlos

2016-11-01

Sexual satisfaction is a key factor in sexual health and has been associated with quality of life. However, few studies have focused on the factors related to sexual satisfaction in the population in Spain. The main goal of this research was to analyze the predictive capacity of an ecological model for the study of sexual satisfaction in a Spanish sample of 723 men and 851 women, with mean age equal to 36.28 (SD = 12.59) and who were in a heterosexual relationship. We analyzed, using structural equation modeling, the degree to which sexual satisfaction was related to different variables. These variables were the following: personal variables (depression and sexual attitudes); interpersonal variables (relationship satisfaction, sexual function, and sexual assertiveness); social variables (social support, parenthood, and annual income); and cultural variables (political ideology, religion, and religious practice). In men, sexual satisfaction was directly predicted by relationship satisfaction and sexual function. Furthermore, political ideology, religious practice, social support, annual income, initiation sexual assertiveness, and sexual attitudes were indirectly associated with sexual satisfaction. In women, sexual satisfaction was directly predicted by relationship satisfaction, sexual function, sexual assertiveness, and sexual attitudes. In addition, political ideology, religious practice, and social support were indirectly associated with sexual satisfaction. Implications for research and therapy are also discussed.

Violent relationships at the social-ecological level: A multi-mediation model to predict adolescent victimization by peers, bullying and depression in early and late adolescence.

PubMed

Oriol, Xavier; Miranda, Rafael; Amutio, Alberto; Acosta, Hedy C; Mendoza, Michelle C; Torres-Vallejos, Javier

2017-01-01

From the social-ecological perspective, exposure to violence at the different developmental levels is fundamental to explain the dynamics of violence and victimization in educational centers. The following study aims at analyzing how these relationships are produced in the Peruvian context, where structural violence situations exist. A multi-mediation structural model with 21,416 Peruvian adolescents (M = 13.69; SD = 0.71) was conducted to determine the influence of violence in the school environment on violence perceived within school and violence exercised by teachers. In addition, it was also intended to determine whether these violent relationships predict depression through loneliness, and bullying through peer victimization. The existence of differences between early and late adolescence was also verified. Results confirm that violence in the school setting has high influence on violence exercised by adolescents and teachers within the school. Teacher violence is the most important predictor of depression through loneliness, and encourages peer victimization and the emergence of aggressive behavior. Exposure to violence exercised by support sources-teachers and classmates-explains more than 90% of the total variance explained in bullying behavior. Differences were found between early and late adolescence models. The high prevalence of structural violence in school settings facilitates the bullying/victimization dynamics within school. From a social-ecological perspective, this result suggests the importance of network cooperation at a mesosystem level, with teachers from educational centers playing a crucial role in the prevention of bullying/victimization.

Segmented assimilation theory and the life model: an integrated approach to understanding immigrants and their children.

PubMed

Piedra, Lissette M; Engstrom, David W

2009-07-01

The life model offers social workers a promising framework to use in assisting immigrant families. However, the complexities of adaptation to a new country may make it difficult for social workers to operate from a purely ecological approach. The authors use segmented assimilation theory to better account for the specificities of the immigrant experience. They argue that by adding concepts from segmented assimilation theory to the life model, social workers can better understand the environmental stressors that increase the vulnerabilities of immigrants to the potentially harsh experience of adapting to a new country. With these concepts, social workers who work with immigrant families will be better positioned to achieve their central goal: enhancing person and environment fit.

A Model of Social Selection and Successful Altruism

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-10-07

D., The evolution of social behavior. Annual Reviews of Ecological Systems, 5:325-383 (1974). 2. Dawkins , R., The selfish gene . Oxford: Oxford...alive and well. it will be important to re- examine this striking historical experience,-not in terms o, oversimplified models of the " selfish gene ," but...Darwinian Analysis The acceptance by many modern geneticists of the axiom that the basic unit of selection Is the " selfish gene " quickly led to the

The Neuropeptide Oxytocin Induces a Social Altruism Bias.

PubMed

Marsh, Nina; Scheele, Dirk; Gerhardt, Holger; Strang, Sabrina; Enax, Laura; Weber, Bernd; Maier, Wolfgang; Hurlemann, René

2015-11-25

Current psychological concepts of social and ecological responsibility emphasize the relevance of altruism, suggesting that more altruistic individuals are more likely to engage in sustainable behaviors. Emerging evidence indicates a central role of the neuropeptide oxytocin in promoting altruism. Whether this influence extends to ecological responsibility or is limited to the social domain remains unknown. In two independent experiments involving 172 human participants, we addressed this question by exposing subjects to a sustainability-related monetary donation task, with the option to support either socially or ecologically framed charities. We found that oxytocin induced a context-dependent change in altruistic behavior away from pro-environmental toward pro-social donations, while keeping constant the overall proportion of donated money. This pro-social bias transcended to the domain of sustainable consumption. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that altruistic priorities vary as a function of oxytocin system activity, which has implications for the promotion of pro-environmental attitudes and eco-friendly behaviors. Individual responses to ecological and social sustainability require a shift in personal priorities away from selfish to more altruistic behaviors. Emerging evidence indicates a central role of the hypothalamic peptide oxytocin in promoting altruism, but whether the influence of oxytocin benefits altruistic decision-making in the context of ecological and social sustainability is unclear. In two independent behavioral experiments involving 172 human subjects, we show that heightened oxytocin system activity induces a social altruism bias at the cost of ecological responsibility. Our results have fundamental implications for policy interventions and business strategies designed to sustain ecological resources by suggesting that a social framing may attract more individuals to engage in pro-environmental and eco-friendly behaviors. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/3515696-06$15.00/0.

An ecological model of the impact of sexual assault on women's mental health.

PubMed

Campbell, Rebecca; Dworkin, Emily; Cabral, Giannina

2009-07-01

This review examines the psychological impact of adult sexual assault through an ecological theoretical perspective to understand how factors at multiple levels of the social ecology contribute to post-assault sequelae. Using Bronfenbrenner's (1979, 1986, 1995) ecological theory of human development, we examine how individual-level factors (e.g., sociodemographics, biological/genetic factors), assault characteristics (e.g., victim-offender relationship, injury, alcohol use), microsystem factors (e.g., informal support from family and friends), meso/ exosystem factors (e.g., contact with the legal, medical, and mental health systems, and rape crisis centers), macrosystem factors (e.g., societal rape myth acceptance), and chronosystem factors (e.g., sexual revictimization and history of other victimizations) affect adult sexual assault survivors' mental health outcomes (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, suicidality, and substance use). Self-blame is conceptualized as meta-construct that stems from all levels of this ecological model. Implications for curbing and/or preventing the negative mental health effects of sexual assault are discussed.

Panaceas and diversification of environmental policy

PubMed Central

Brock, William A.; Carpenter, Stephen R.

2007-01-01

We consider panacea formation in the framework of adaptive learning and decision for social–ecological systems (SESs). Institutions for managing such systems must address multiple timescales of ecological change, as well as features of the social community in which the ecosystem policy problem is embedded. Response of the SES to each candidate institution must be modeled and treated as a stochastic process with unknown parameters to be estimated. A fundamental challenge is to design institutions that are not vulnerable to capture by subsets of the community that self-organize to direct the institution against the overall social interest. In a world of episodic structural change, such as SESs, adaptive learning can lock in to a single institution, model, or parameter estimate. Policy diversification, leading to escape from panacea traps, can come from monitoring indicators of episodic change on slow timescales, minimax regret decision making, active experimentation to accelerate model identification, mechanisms for broadening the set of models or institutions under consideration, and processes for discovery of new institutions and technologies for ecosystem management. It is difficult to take all of these factors into account, but the discipline that comes with the attempt to model the coupled social–ecological dynamics forces policy makers to confront all conceivable responses. This process helps induce the modesty needed to avoid panacea traps while supporting systematic effort to improve resource management in the public interest. PMID:17881581

On folivory, competition, and intelligence: generalisms, overgeneralizations, and models of primate evolution.

PubMed

Sayers, Ken

2013-04-01

Considerations of primate behavioral evolution often proceed by assuming the ecological and competitive milieus of particular taxa via their relative exploitation of gross food types, such as fruits versus leaves. Although this "fruit/leaf dichotomy" has been repeatedly criticized, it continues to be implicitly invoked in discussions of primate socioecology and female social relationships and is explicitly invoked in models of brain evolution. An expanding literature suggests that such views have severely limited our knowledge of the social and ecological complexities of primate folivory. This paper examines the behavior of primate folivore-frugivores, with particular emphasis on gray langurs (traditionally, Semnopithecus entellus) within the broader context of evolutionary ecology. Although possessing morphological characteristics that have been associated with folivory and constrained activity patterns, gray langurs are known for remarkable plasticity in ecology and behavior. Their diets are generally quite broad and can be discussed in relation to Liem's Paradox, the odd coupling of anatomical feeding specializations with a generalist foraging strategy. Gray langurs, not coincidentally, inhabit arguably the widest range of habitats for a nonhuman primate, including high elevations in the Himalayas. They provide an excellent focal point for examining the assumptions and predictions of behavioral, socioecological, and cognitive evolutionary models. Contrary to the classical descriptions of the primate folivore, Himalayan and other gray langurs-and, in actuality, many leaf-eating primates-range widely, engage in resource competition (both of which have previously been noted for primate folivores), and solve ecological problems rivaling those of more frugivorous primates (which has rarely been argued for primate folivores). It is maintained that questions of primate folivore adaptation, temperate primate adaptation, and primate evolution more generally cannot be answered by the frequent approach of broad characterizations, categorization models, crude variables, weakly correlative evidence, and subjective definitions. As a corollary, many current avenues of study are inadequate for explaining primate adaptation. A true understanding of primate ecology can only be achieved through the use of mainstream evolutionary ecology and thorough linkage of both proximate and ultimate mechanisms.

On folivory, competition, and intelligence: generalism, overgeneralizations, and models of primate evolution

PubMed Central

Sayers, Ken

2013-01-01

Considerations of primate behavioral evolution often proceed by assuming the ecological and competitive milieus of particular taxa via their relative exploitation of gross food types, such as fruits versus leaves. Although this “fruit/leaf dichotomy” has been repeatedly criticized, it continues to be implicitly invoked in discussions of primate socioecology and female social relationships, and explicitly invoked in models of brain evolution. An expanding literature suggests that such views have severely limited our knowledge of the social and ecological complexities of primate folivory. This paper examines the behavior of primate folivore-frugivores, with particular emphasis on gray langurs (traditionally, Semnopithecus entellus) within the broader context of evolutionary ecology. Although possessing morphological characters that have been associated with folivory and constrained activity patterns, gray langurs are known for remarkable plasticity in ecology and behavior. Their diets are generally quite broad and can be discussed in relation to “Liem’s paradox,” the odd coupling of anatomical feeding specializations with a generalist foraging strategy. Gray langurs, not coincidentally, inhabit arguably the widest range of habitats for a nonhuman primate, including high elevations in the Himalayas. They provide an excellent focal point for examining the assumptions and predictions of behavioral, socioecological, and cognitive evolutionary models. Contrary to the classical descriptions of the primate folivore, Himalayan and other gray langurs—and, in actuality, many leaf eating primates—range widely and engage in resource competition (both of which have previously been noted for primate folivores) as well as solve ecological problems rivaling those of more frugivorous primates (which has rarely been argued for primate folivores). It is maintained that questions of primate folivore adaptation, temperate primate adaptation, and primate evolution more generally cannot be answered by the frequent approach of broad characterizations, categorization models, crude variables, weakly correlative evidence, and subjective definitions. As a corollary, many current avenues of study are inadequate for explaining primate adaptation. A true understanding of primate ecology can only be achieved through the utilization of mainstream evolutionary ecology, and thorough linkage of both proximate and ultimate mechanisms. PMID:23263563

Brief note: Applying developmental intergroup perspectives to the social ecologies of bullying: Lessons from developmental social psychology.

PubMed

Brenick, Alaina; Halgunseth, Linda C

2017-08-01

Over the past decades, the field of bullying research has seen dramatic growth, notably with the integration of the social-ecological approach to understanding bullying. Recently, researchers (Hymel et al., 2015; Hawley & Williford, 2015) have called for further extension of the field by incorporating constructs of group processes into our investigation of the social ecologies of bullying. This brief note details the critical connections between power, social identity, group norms, social and moral reasoning about discrimination and victimization, and experiences of, evaluations of, and responses to bullying. The authors highlight a parallel development in the bridging of developmental social-ecological and social psychological perspectives utilized in the field of social exclusion that provides a roadmap for extending the larger field of bullying research. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled [VSI: Bullying] IG000050. Copyright © 2017 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Engineering online and in-person social networks to sustain physical activity: application of a conceptual model

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background High rates of physical inactivity compromise the health status of populations globally. Social networks have been shown to influence physical activity (PA), but little is known about how best to engineer social networks to sustain PA. To improve procedures for building networks that shape PA as a normative behavior, there is a need for more specific hypotheses about how social variables influence PA. There is also a need to integrate concepts from network science with ecological concepts that often guide the design of in-person and electronically-mediated interventions. Therefore, this paper: (1) proposes a conceptual model that integrates principles from network science and ecology across in-person and electronically-mediated intervention modes; and (2) illustrates the application of this model to the design and evaluation of a social network intervention for PA. Methods/Design A conceptual model for engineering social networks was developed based on a scoping literature review of modifiable social influences on PA. The model guided the design of a cluster randomized controlled trial in which 308 sedentary adults were randomly assigned to three groups: WalkLink+: prompted and provided feedback on participants’ online and in-person social-network interactions to expand networks for PA, plus provided evidence-based online walking program and weekly walking tips; WalkLink: evidence-based online walking program and weekly tips only; Minimal Treatment Control: weekly tips only. The effects of these treatment conditions were assessed at baseline, post-program, and 6-month follow-up. The primary outcome was accelerometer-measured PA. Secondary outcomes included objectively-measured aerobic fitness, body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, and neighborhood walkability; and self-reported measures of the physical environment, social network environment, and social network interactions. The differential effects of the three treatment conditions on primary and secondary outcomes will be analyzed using general linear modeling (GLM), or generalized linear modeling if the assumptions for GLM cannot be met. Discussion Results will contribute to greater understanding of how to conceptualize and implement social networks to support long-term PA. Establishing social networks for PA across multiple life settings could contribute to cultural norms that sustain active living. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01142804 PMID:23945138

Protected areas as social-ecological systems: perspectives from resilience and social-ecological systems theory

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cumming, Graeme S.; Allen, Craig R.

2017-01-01

Conservation biology and applied ecology increasingly recognize that natural resource management is both an outcome and a driver of social, economic, and ecological dynamics. Protected areas offer a fundamental approach to conserving ecosystems, but they are also social-ecological systems whose ecological management and sustainability are heavily influenced by people. This editorial, and the papers in the invited feature that it introduces, discuss three emerging themes in social-ecological systems approaches to understanding protected areas: (1) the resilience and sustainability of protected areas, including analyses of their internal dynamics, their effectiveness, and the resilience of the landscapes within which they occur; (2) the relevance of spatial context and scale for protected areas, including such factors as geographic connectivity, context, exchanges between protected areas and their surrounding landscapes, and scale dependency in the provision of ecosystem services; and (3) efforts to reframe what protected areas are and how they both define and are defined by the relationships of people and nature. These emerging themes have the potential to transform management and policy approaches for protected areas and have important implications for conservation, in both theory and practice.

Seeing the forest for the trees: hybridity and social-ecological symbols, rituals and resilience in postdisaster contexts

Treesearch

Keith G. Tidball

2014-01-01

The role of community-based natural resources management in the form of "greening" after large scale system shocks and surprises is argued to provide multiple benefits via engagement with living elements of social-ecological systems and subsequent enhanced resilience at multiple scales. The importance of so-called social-ecological symbols, especially the...

Striding toward social justice: the ecologic milieu of physical activity.

PubMed

Lee, Rebecca E; Cubbin, Catherine

2009-01-01

Disparities in physical activity should be investigated in light of social justice principles. This article critically evaluates evidence and trends in disparities research within an ecologic framework, focusing on multilevel factors such as neighborhood and racial discrimination that influence physical activity. Discussion focuses on strategies for integrating social justice into physical activity promotion and intervention programming within an ecologic framework.

Risk and Protective Factors for Homophobic Bullying in Schools: An Application of the Social-Ecological Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hong, Jun Sung; Garbarino, James

2012-01-01

Homophobic bullying is a serious concern for students, parents, teachers, and school officials. This article reviews evidence on the status of this problem and how it may be addressed in a multilevel and multidisciplinary manner growing out of a social-ecological perspective on homophobic bullying as a social phenomenon. The ecological framework…

Operationalizing the social-ecological systems framework to assess sustainability.

PubMed

Leslie, Heather M; Basurto, Xavier; Nenadovic, Mateja; Sievanen, Leila; Cavanaugh, Kyle C; Cota-Nieto, Juan José; Erisman, Brad E; Finkbeiner, Elena; Hinojosa-Arango, Gustavo; Moreno-Báez, Marcia; Nagavarapu, Sriniketh; Reddy, Sheila M W; Sánchez-Rodríguez, Alexandra; Siegel, Katherine; Ulibarria-Valenzuela, José Juan; Weaver, Amy Hudson; Aburto-Oropeza, Octavio

2015-05-12

Environmental governance is more effective when the scales of ecological processes are well matched with the human institutions charged with managing human-environment interactions. The social-ecological systems (SESs) framework provides guidance on how to assess the social and ecological dimensions that contribute to sustainable resource use and management, but rarely if ever has been operationalized for multiple localities in a spatially explicit, quantitative manner. Here, we use the case of small-scale fisheries in Baja California Sur, Mexico, to identify distinct SES regions and test key aspects of coupled SESs theory. Regions that exhibit greater potential for social-ecological sustainability in one dimension do not necessarily exhibit it in others, highlighting the importance of integrative, coupled system analyses when implementing spatial planning and other ecosystem-based strategies.

Impact of social service and public health spending on teenage birth rates across the USA: an ecological study.

PubMed

Sipsma, Heather L; Canavan, Maureen; Gilliam, Melissa; Bradley, Elizabeth

2017-06-13

To examine whether greater state-level spending on social and public health services such as income, education and public safety is associated with lower rates of teenage births in USA. Ecological study. USA. 50 states. Our primary outcome measure was teenage birth rates. For analyses, we constructed marginal models using repeated measures to test the effect of social spending on teenage birth rates, accounting for several potential confounders. The unadjusted and adjusted models across all years demonstrated significant effects of spending and suggested that higher spending rates were associated with lower rates of teenage birth, with effects slightly diminishing with each increase in spending (linear effect: B=-0.20; 95% CI -0.31 to 0.08; p<0.001 and quadratic effect: B=0.003; 95% CI 0.002 to 0.005; p<0.001). Higher state spending on social and public health services is associated with lower rates of teenage births. As states seek ways to limit healthcare costs associated with teenage birth rates, our findings suggest that protecting existing social service investments will be critical. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Bullying Prevention and the Parent Involvement Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kolbert, Jered B.; Schultz, Danielle; Crothers, Laura M.

2014-01-01

A recent meta-analysis of bullying prevention programs provides support for social-ecological theory, in which parent involvement addressing child bullying behaviors is seen as important in preventing school-based bullying. The purpose of this manuscript is to suggest how Epstein and colleagues' parent involvement model can be used as a…

How hives collapse: Allee effects, ecological resilience, and the honey bee

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We construct a mathematical model to quantify the loss of resilience in collapsing honey bee colonies due to the presence of a strong Allee effect. In the model, recruitment and mortality of adult bees have substantial social components, with recruitment enhanced and mortality reduced by additional ...

Applying the socio-ecological model to improving fruit and vegetable intake among low-income African Americans.

PubMed

Robinson, Tanya

2008-12-01

Despite the growing body of literature that provides evidence of the health benefits of a diet high in fruits and vegetables, most Americans eat much less than the recommended amounts of this food group. Among those who are least likely to meet the USDA guidelines for the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables are non-Hispanic Blacks and individuals with lower incomes. The purpose of this literature review is to examine the dietary behaviors, focusing on fruit and vegetable intake, of low-income African Americans from a socio-ecological perspective, and to offer rationale for and guidance on integrating socio-ecological concepts into health promoting programs intended to improve dietary behaviors among this population. Based on the 12 descriptive studies retrieved in the review, dietary behaviors and fruit and vegetable intake among African Americans are the result of a complex interplay of personal, cultural, and environmental factors that can be categorized and described using the five levels of influence conceptualized by the socio-ecological model: Intrapersonal level (taste preferences, habits, and nutritional knowledge and skills), Interpersonal level/social environment (processes whereby culture, social traditions, and role expectations impact eating practices; and patterns within peer groups, friends and family), and Organizational, Community, and Public Policy levels/physical environment (environmental factors that affect food access and availability). The socio-ecological model provides a useful framework for achieving a better understanding of the multiple factors and barriers that impact dietary behaviors, and therefore can provide guidance for developing culturally appropriate and sensitive intervention strategies for African Americans. It is an integrative framework that shows great promise in moving the field closer to attaining the goal of improving dietary behaviors and nutritional status among African Americans.

Musicking as Education for Social and Ecological Peace: A New Synthesis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golden, Michael

2016-01-01

The aim of this article is twofold: first, to confirm the multi-level linkage between the ecological and social realms in terms of violence, peace, and education, and second, to explore what light ecological thinking can shed on musicking as a potentially effective tool in peace education. The effects of violence in the ecological and social…

EMERGY-based environmental systems assessment of a multi-purpose temperate mixed-forest watershed of the southern Appalachian Mountains, USA.

PubMed

Tilley, David Rogers; Swank, Wayne T

2003-11-01

Emergy (with an 'm') synthesis was used to assess the balance between nature and humanity and the equity among forest outcomes of a US Forest Service ecosystem management demonstration project on the Wine Spring Creek watershed, a high-elevation (1600 m), temperate forest located in the southern Appalachian mountains of North Carolina, USA. EM embraces a holistic perspective, accounting for the multiple temporal and spatial scales of forest processes and public interactions, to balance the ecological, economic, and social demands placed on land resources. Emergy synthesis is a modeling tool that allows the structure and function of forest ecosystems to be quantified in common units (solar emergy-joules, sej) for easy and meaningful comparison, determining 'system-value' for forcing factors, components, and processes based on the amount of resources required to develop and sustain them, whether they are money, material, energy, or information. The Environmental Loading Ratio (ELR), the units of solar emergy imported into the watershed via human control per unit of indigenous, natural solar emergy, was determined to be 0.42, indicating that the load on the natural environment was not ecologically damaging and that excess ecological capacity existed for increasing non-ecological activities (e.g. timbering, recreation) to achieve an ELR of 1.0 (perfect ecological-economic balance). Three forest outcomes selected to represent the three categories of desired sustainability (ecological, economic, and social) were evaluated in terms of their solar emergy flow to measure outcome equity. Direct economic contribution was an order of magnitude less (224 x 10(12)solar emergy-joules (sej) ha(-1)) than the ecological and social contributions, which were provided at annual rates of 3083 and 2102 x 10(12)sejha(-1), respectively. Emergy synthesis was demonstrated to holistically integrate and quantify the interconnections of a coupled nature-human system allowing the goals of ecological balance and outcome equity to be measured quantitatively.

Rivers are social–ecological systems: Time to integrate human dimensions into riverscape ecology and management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dunham, Jason B.; Angermeier, Paul L.; Crausbay, Shelley D.; Cravens, Amanda; Gosnell, Hannah; McEvoy, Jamie; Moritz, Max A.; Raheem, Nejem; Sanford, Todd

2018-01-01

Incorporation of concepts from landscape ecology into understanding and managing riverine ecosystems has become widely known as riverscape ecology. Riverscape ecology emphasizes interactions among processes at different scales and their consequences for valued ecosystem components, such as riverine fishes. Past studies have focused strongly on understanding the ecological processes in riverscapes and how human actions modify those processes. It is increasingly clear, however, that an understanding of the drivers behind actions that lead to human modification also merit consideration, especially regarding how those drivers influence management efficacy. These indirect drivers of riverscape outcomes can be understood in the context of a diverse array of social processes, which we collectively refer to as human dimensions. Like ecological phenomena, social processes also exhibit complex interactions across spatiotemporal scales. Greater emphasis on feedbacks between social and ecological processes will lead scientists and managers to more completely understand riverscapes as complex, dynamic, interacting social–ecological systems. Emerging applications in riverscapes, as well as studies of other ecosystems, provide examples that can lead to stronger integration of social and ecological science. We argue that conservation successes within riverscapes may not come from better ecological science, improved ecosystem service analyses, or even economic incentives if the fundamental drivers of human behaviors are not understood and addressed in conservation planning and implementation.

Emotion discourse, social cognition, and social skills in children with and without developmental delays.

PubMed

Fenning, Rachel M; Baker, Bruce L; Juvonen, Jaana

2011-01-01

This study examined parent-child emotion discourse, children's independent social information processing, and social skills outcomes in 146 families of 8-year-olds with and without developmental delays. Children's emergent social-cognitive understanding (internal state understanding, perspective taking, and causal reasoning and problem solving) was coded in the context of parent-child conversations about emotion, and children were interviewed separately to assess social problem solving. Mothers, fathers, and teachers reported on children's social skills. The proposed strengths-based model partially accounted for social skills differences between typically developing children and children with delays. A multigroup analysis of the model linking emotion discourse to social skills through children's prosocial problem solving suggested that processes operated similarly for the two groups. Implications for ecologically focused prevention and intervention are discussed. © 2011 The Authors. Child Development © 2011 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

The ecology of insect-yeast relationships and its relevance to human industry.

PubMed

Madden, Anne A; Epps, Mary Jane; Fukami, Tadashi; Irwin, Rebecca E; Sheppard, John; Sorger, D Magdalena; Dunn, Robert R

2018-03-28

Many species of yeast are integral to human society. They produce many of our foods, beverages and industrial chemicals, challenge us as pathogens, and provide models for the study of our own biology. However, few species are regularly studied and much of their ecology remains unclear, hindering the development of knowledge that is needed to improve the relationships between humans and yeasts. There is increasing evidence that insects are an essential component of ascomycetous yeast ecology. We propose a 'dispersal-encounter hypothesis' whereby yeasts are dispersed by insects between ephemeral, spatially disparate sugar resources, and insects, in turn, obtain the benefits of an honest signal from yeasts for the sugar resources. We review the relationship between yeasts and insects through three main examples: social wasps, social bees and beetles, with some additional examples from fruit flies. Ultimately, we suggest that over the next decades, consideration of these ecological and evolutionary relationships between insects and yeasts will allow prediction of where new yeast diversity is most likely to be discovered, particularly yeasts with traits of interest to human industry. © 2018 The Author(s).

The ecology of insect–yeast relationships and its relevance to human industry

PubMed Central

Epps, Mary Jane; Sheppard, John; Sorger, D. Magdalena; Dunn, Robert R.

2018-01-01

Many species of yeast are integral to human society. They produce many of our foods, beverages and industrial chemicals, challenge us as pathogens, and provide models for the study of our own biology. However, few species are regularly studied and much of their ecology remains unclear, hindering the development of knowledge that is needed to improve the relationships between humans and yeasts. There is increasing evidence that insects are an essential component of ascomycetous yeast ecology. We propose a ‘dispersal–encounter hypothesis' whereby yeasts are dispersed by insects between ephemeral, spatially disparate sugar resources, and insects, in turn, obtain the benefits of an honest signal from yeasts for the sugar resources. We review the relationship between yeasts and insects through three main examples: social wasps, social bees and beetles, with some additional examples from fruit flies. Ultimately, we suggest that over the next decades, consideration of these ecological and evolutionary relationships between insects and yeasts will allow prediction of where new yeast diversity is most likely to be discovered, particularly yeasts with traits of interest to human industry. PMID:29563264

Yellow-bellied marmots: insights from an emergent view of sociality.

PubMed

Blumstein, Daniel T

2013-05-19

Ecological factors explain variation in sociality both within and between species of marmots-large alpine ground squirrels. Fifty years of study, by me and my colleagues, of the yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, near Crested Butte, CO, USA, has created opportunities to see how sociality changes with population and group size. Over the past decades, we have witnessed a natural experiment whereby the population tripled in size. If we view sociality as an emergent process, then demography acts as a constraint on interactions between individuals, and the threefold increase in population size should have consequences for group structure. We have used social network statistics to study the causes and consequences of social interactions by capitalizing on this demographic variation. Such an emergent view is ideally studied in an integrative Tinbergian way that focuses on both mechanism and function. We have determined that some social attributes are heritable, that social cohesion is established through age and kin structure, that well-embedded females (but not males) are less likely to disperse, and that there are fitness consequences of social attributes. Together, this integrative relationship-centred view expands on the traditional ecological model of sociality and offers a framework that can be applied to other systems.

Yellow-bellied marmots: insights from an emergent view of sociality

PubMed Central

Blumstein, Daniel T.

2013-01-01

Ecological factors explain variation in sociality both within and between species of marmots—large alpine ground squirrels. Fifty years of study, by me and my colleagues, of the yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, near Crested Butte, CO, USA, has created opportunities to see how sociality changes with population and group size. Over the past decades, we have witnessed a natural experiment whereby the population tripled in size. If we view sociality as an emergent process, then demography acts as a constraint on interactions between individuals, and the threefold increase in population size should have consequences for group structure. We have used social network statistics to study the causes and consequences of social interactions by capitalizing on this demographic variation. Such an emergent view is ideally studied in an integrative Tinbergian way that focuses on both mechanism and function. We have determined that some social attributes are heritable, that social cohesion is established through age and kin structure, that well-embedded females (but not males) are less likely to disperse, and that there are fitness consequences of social attributes. Together, this integrative relationship-centred view expands on the traditional ecological model of sociality and offers a framework that can be applied to other systems. PMID:23569297

A social-ecological model of readiness for transition to adult-oriented care for adolescents and young adults with chronic health conditions.

PubMed

Schwartz, L A; Tuchman, L K; Hobbie, W L; Ginsberg, J P

2011-11-01

Policy and research related to transition to adult care for adolescents and young adults (AYAs) has focused primarily on patient age, disease skills and knowledge. In an effort to broaden conceptualization of transition and move beyond isolated patient variables, a new social-ecological model of AYA readiness for transition (SMART) was developed. SMART development was informed by related theories, literature, expert opinion and pilot data collection using a questionnaire developed to assess provider report of SMART components with 100 consecutive patients in a childhood cancer survivorship clinic. The literature, expert opinion and pilot data collection support the relevance of SMART components and a social-ecological conceptualization of transition. Provider report revealed that many components, representing more than age, disease knowledge and skills, related to provider plans for transferring patients. SMART consists of inter-related constructs of patients, parents and providers with emphasis on variables amenable to intervention. Results support SMART's broadened conceptualization of transition readiness and need for assessment of multiple stakeholders' perspectives of patient transition readiness. A companion measure of SMART, which will be able to be completed by patients, parents and providers, will be developed to target areas of intervention to facilitate optimal transition readiness. Similar research programmes to establish evidence-based transition measures and interventions are needed. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Approaches to incorporating climate change effects in state and transition simulation models of vegetation

Treesearch

Becky K. Kerns; Miles A. Hemstrom; David Conklin; Gabriel I. Yospin; Bart Johnson; Dominique Bachelet; Scott Bridgham

2012-01-01

Understanding landscape vegetation dynamics often involves the use of scientifically-based modeling tools that are capable of testing alternative management scenarios given complex ecological, management, and social conditions. State-and-transition simulation model (STSM) frameworks and software such as PATH and VDDT are commonly used tools that simulate how landscapes...

Can Policy Alone Stop Decline of Children and Youth Fitness?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Chunhua; Yang, Yang

2017-01-01

Various models and methods have been proposed to address the worldwide decline in children's and youth's physical fitness, and the social-ecological model has shown some promise. Yet, the impact of the policy intervention, one component of that model, has not been evaluated carefully. Using limited data from policy documents, the impact of policy…

Becoming Partners with Children: From Play to Conversation. A Developmental Guide for Professionals and Parents.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacDonald, James D.

Focusing on the preconversational child who has yet to develop a stable or generalized habit of spontaneous conversation, this book presents ECO (Ecological Communication Model), a new intervention model for social and communicative development of developmentally delayed children. The model is based on two perspectives: the literature on the…

Striding Toward Social Justice: The Ecologic Milieu of Physical Activity

PubMed Central

Lee, Rebecca E.; Cubbin, Catherine

2009-01-01

Disparities in physical activity should be investigated in light of social justice principles. This manuscript critically evaluates evidence and trends in disparities research within an ecologic framework, focusing on multi-level factors such as neighborhood and racial discrimination that influence physical activity. Discussion focuses on strategies for integrating social justice into physical activity promotion and intervention programming within an ecologic framework. PMID:19098519

Educating toward Direct Democracy and Ecological Sustainability: Theory of Social Ecology as a Framework for Critical, Democratic, and Community-Based Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holohan, Kevin J.

2012-01-01

The aim of this dissertation project was to explore and extrapolate the work of the left-libertarian social theorist, Murray Bookchin (1921-2006), paying particular attention to his theory of social ecology and to examine its implications for and use as a comprehensive philosophical/theoretical framework for alternative secondary education that…

[Coupling coordinated development of ecological-economic system in Loess Plateau].

PubMed

Zhang, Qing-Feng; Wu, Fa-Qi; Wang, Li; Wang, Jian

2011-06-01

Based on system theory, a coupling coordinated development model of ecological-economic system in Loess Plateau was established, and the evaluation criteria and basic types of the coordinated development of the ecological-economic system were proposed. The county-level coupling coordinated development of the ecological-economic system was also discussed, based on the local characteristics. The interactions between the ecological and economic systems in Loess Plateau could be divided into four stages, i.e., seriously disordered development stage, mild-disordered development stage, low-level coordinated development stage, and high level well-coordinated development stage. At each stage, there existed a cyclic process of profit and loss-antagonist-running-dominant-synchronous development. The coupling development degree of the ecological-economic system in Loess Plateau was overall at a lower level, being about 62.7% of the counties at serious disorder, 30.1% of the counties at mild disorder, and 7.1% of the counties at low but coordinated level. The coupling development degree based on the model established in this study could better reflect the current social-economic and ecological environment situations, especially the status of coordination. To fully understand the coupling of ecological-economic system and to adopt appropriate development mode would be of significance to promote the county-level coordinated development in Loess Plateau.

Exploring the influence of a social ecological model on school-based physical activity.

PubMed

Langille, Jessie-Lee D; Rodgers, Wendy M

2010-12-01

Among rising rates of overweight and obesity, schools have become essential settings to promote health behaviors, such as physical activity (PA). As schools exist within a broader environment, the social ecological model (SEM) provided a framework to consider how different levels interact and influence PA. The purpose of this study was to provide insight on school-based PA promotion by investigating the integration between different levels of Emmons's SEM within one public school board in a large Canadian city. Interviews were conducted with participants from the government (n = 4), the public school board (n = 3), principals (n = 3), and teachers (n = 4) and analyzed to explore perspectives on the various levels of the model. The results suggested that higher level policies "trickled down" into the organizational level of the SEM but there was pivotal responsibility for schools to determine how to implement PA strategies. Furthermore, schools have difficulty implementing PA because of the continued priority of academic achievement.

Mālama I Ka `Āina, Sustainability: learning from Hawai`i's displaced place and culture-based science standard

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chinn, Pauline W. U.

2011-03-01

This response to Mitchell and Mueller's "A philosophical analysis of David Orr's theory of ecological literacy" comments on their critique of Orr's use of the phrase "ecological crisis" and what I perceive as their conflicting views of "crisis." I present my views on ecological crisis informed by standpoint theory and the definition of crisis as turning point. I connect the concept of turning point to tipping point as used in ecology to describe potentially irreversible changes in coupled social-ecological systems. I suggest that sustainable societies may provide models of adaptive learning in which monitoring of ecological phenomena is coupled to human behavior to mitigate threats to sustainability before a crisis/tipping point is reached. Finally, I discuss the Hawai`i State Department of Education's removal of its Indigenous science content standard Mālama I Ka `Āina, Sustainability and its continued use in community-based projects.

Maternal care and subsocial behaviour in spiders.

PubMed

Yip, Eric C; Rayor, Linda S

2014-05-01

While most spiders are solitary and opportunistically cannibalistic, a variety of social organisations has evolved in a minority of spider species. One form of social organisation is subsociality, in which siblings remain together with their parent for some period of time but disperse prior to independent reproduction. We review the literature on subsocial and maternal behaviour in spiders to highlight areas in which subsocial spiders have informed our understanding of social evolution and to identify promising areas of future research. We show that subsocial behaviour has evolved independently at least 18 times in spiders, across a wide phylogenetic distribution. Subsocial behaviour is diverse in terms of the form of care provided by the mother, the duration of care and sibling association, the degree of interaction and cooperation among siblings, and the use of vibratory and chemical communication. Subsocial spiders are useful model organisms to study various topics in ecology, such as kin recognition and the evolution of cheating and its impact on societies. Further, why social behaviour evolved in some lineages and not others is currently a topic of debate in behavioural ecology, and we argue that spiders offer an opportunity to untangle the ecological causes of parental care, which forms the basis of many other animal societies. © 2013 The Authors. Biological Reviews © 2013 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

An ecological framework for sexual minority women's health: factors associated with greater body mass.

PubMed

Eliason, Michele J; Fogel, Sarah C

2015-01-01

In recent years, many studies have focused on the body of sexual minority women, particularly emphasizing their larger size. These studies rarely offer theoretically based explanations for the increased weight, nor study the potential consequences (or lack thereof) of being heavier. This article provides a brief overview of the multitude of factors that might cause or contribute to larger size of sexual minority women, using an ecological framework that elucidates upstream social determinants of health as well as individual risk factors. This model is infused with a minority stress model, which hypothesizes excess strain resulting from the stigma associated with oppressed minority identities such as woman, lesbian, bisexual, woman of color, and others. We argue that lack of attention to the upstream social determinants of health may result in individual-level victim blaming and interventions that do not address the root causes of minority stress or increased weight.

Political violence and child adjustment: longitudinal tests of sectarian antisocial behavior, family conflict, and insecurity as explanatory pathways.

PubMed

Cummings, Edward M; Merrilees, Christine E; Schermerhorn, Alice C; Goeke-Morey, Marcie C; Shirlow, Peter; Cairns, Ed

2012-01-01

Understanding the impact of political violence on child maladjustment is a matter of international concern. Recent research has advanced a social ecological explanation for relations between political violence and child adjustment. However, conclusions are qualified by the lack of longitudinal tests. Toward examining pathways longitudinally, mothers and their adolescents (M = 12.33, SD = 1.78, at Time 1) from 2-parent families in Catholic and Protestant working class neighborhoods in Belfast, Northern Ireland, completed measures assessing multiple levels of a social ecological model. Utilizing autoregressive controls, a 3-wave longitudinal model test (T1, n = 299; T2, n = 248; T3, n = 197) supported a specific pathway linking sectarian community violence, family conflict, children's insecurity about family relationships, and adjustment problems. © 2012 The Authors. Child Development © 2012 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

How Robust is Your System Resilience?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Homayounfar, M.; Muneepeerakul, R.

2017-12-01

Robustness and resilience are concepts in system thinking that have grown in importance and popularity. For many complex social-ecological systems, however, robustness and resilience are difficult to quantify and the connections and trade-offs between them difficult to study. Most studies have either focused on qualitative approaches to discuss their connections or considered only one of them under particular classes of disturbances. In this study, we present an analytical framework to address the linkage between robustness and resilience more systematically. Our analysis is based on a stylized dynamical model that operationalizes a widely used concept framework for social-ecological systems. The model enables us to rigorously define robustness and resilience and consequently investigate their connections. The results reveal the tradeoffs among performance, robustness, and resilience. They also show how the nature of the such tradeoffs varies with the choices of certain policies (e.g., taxation and investment in public infrastructure), internal stresses and external disturbances.

Using the Ecological Model to understand influences on college student vaping.

PubMed

Cheney, Marshall K; Gowin, Mary; Clawson, Ashley H

2018-02-16

Objective The Ecological Model was used to examine the social and environmental influences of the college environment on e-cigarette use (vaping) among college students. Undergraduate college student e-cigarette users (vapers) across three large college campuses in the southwest US from Jan 2015- Aug 2016. Thirty-three interviews were conducted. Transcribed interviews were coded then analyzed for themes. College student vapers report multiple levels of influence on their vaping beyond personal beliefs and peer influences, including parents, explicit campus and community messaging, community member requests, and respect for others. College student vapers also describe constant associations with smokers in allowable public places to vape. Parents, community members, campus policy, and the physical environment all influence where and when college students vape. Health communication messages to prevent college student vaping should incorporate alternative messages that are important to college students, such as respect for others and social image.

Rural Mental Health Ecology: A Framework for Engaging with Mental Health Social Capital in Rural Communities.

PubMed

Wilson, Rhonda L; Wilson, G Glenn; Usher, Kim

2015-09-01

The mental health of people in rural communities is influenced by the robustness of the mental health ecosystem within each community. Theoretical approaches such as social ecology and social capital are useful when applied to the practical context of promoting environmental conditions which maximise mental health helping capital to enhance resilience and reduce vulnerably as a buffer for mental illness. This paper explores the ecological conditions that affect the mental health and illness of people in rural communities. It proposes a new mental health social ecology framework that makes full use of the locally available unique social capital that is sufficiently flexible to facilitate mental health helping capital best suited to mental health service delivery for rural people in an Australian context.

Social capital and common mental disorder: a systematic review.

PubMed

Ehsan, Annahita M; De Silva, Mary J

2015-10-01

This study aims to systematically review all published quantitative studies examining the direct association between social capital and common mental disorders (CMD). Social capital has potential value for the promotion and prevention of CMD. The association between different types of social capital (individual cognitive and structural, and ecological cognitive and structural) and CMD must be explored to obtain conclusive evidence regarding the association, and to ascertain a direction of causality. 10 electronic databases were searched to find studies examining the association between social capital and CMD published before July 2014. The effect estimates and sample sizes for each type of social capital were separately analysed for cross-sectional and cohort studies. From 1857 studies retrieved, 39 were selected for inclusion: 31 cross-sectional and 8 cohort studies. 39 effect estimates were found for individual level cognitive, 31 for individual level structural, 9 for ecological level cognitive and 11 for ecological level structural social capital. This review provides evidence that individual cognitive social capital is protective against developing CMD. Ecological cognitive social capital is also associated with reduced risk of CMD, though the included studies were cross-sectional. For structural social capital there was overall no association at either the individual or ecological levels. Two cross-sectional studies found that in low-income settings, a mother's participation in civic activities is associated with an increased risk of CMD. There is now sufficient evidence to design and evaluate individual and ecological cognitive social capital interventions to promote mental well-being and prevent CMD. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Social and health dimensions of climate change in the Amazon.

PubMed

Brondízio, Eduardo S; de Lima, Ana C B; Schramski, Sam; Adams, Cristina

2016-07-01

The Amazon region has been part of climate change debates for decades, yet attention to its social and health dimensions has been limited. This paper assesses literature on the social and health dimensions of climate change in the Amazon. A conceptual framework underscores multiple stresses and exposures created by interactions between climate change and local social-environmental conditions. Using the Thomson-Reuter Web of Science, this study bibliometrically assessed the overall literature on climate change in the Amazon, including Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, Anthropology, Environmental Science/Ecology and Public, Environmental/Occupational Health. From this assessment, a relevant sub-sample was selected and complemented with literature from the Brazilian database SciELO. This sample discusses three dimensions of climate change impacts in the region: livelihood changes, vector-borne diseases and microbial proliferation, and respiratory diseases. This analysis elucidates imbalance and disconnect between ecological, physical and social and health dimensions of climate change and between continental and regional climate analysis, and sub-regional and local levels. Work on the social and health implications of climate change in the Amazon falls significantly behind other research areas, limiting reliable information for analytical models and for Amazonian policy-makers and society at large. Collaborative research is called for.

Social-ecological resilience and geomorphic systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaffin, Brian C.; Scown, Murray

2018-03-01

Governance of coupled social-ecological systems (SESs) and the underlying geomorphic processes that structure and alter Earth's surface is a key challenge for global sustainability amid the increasing uncertainty and change that defines the Anthropocene. Social-ecological resilience as a concept of scientific inquiry has contributed to new understandings of the dynamics of change in SESs, increasing our ability to contextualize and implement governance in these systems. Often, however, the importance of geomorphic change and geomorphological knowledge is somewhat missing from processes employed to inform SES governance. In this contribution, we argue that geomorphology and social-ecological resilience research should be integrated to improve governance toward sustainability. We first provide definitions of engineering, ecological, community, and social-ecological resilience and then explore the use of these concepts within and alongside geomorphology in the literature. While ecological studies often consider geomorphology as an important factor influencing the resilience of ecosystems and geomorphological studies often consider the engineering resilience of geomorphic systems of interest, very few studies define and employ a social-ecological resilience framing and explicitly link the concept to geomorphic systems. We present five key concepts-scale, feedbacks, state or regime, thresholds and regime shifts, and humans as part of the system-which we believe can help explicitly link important aspects of social-ecological resilience inquiry and geomorphological inquiry in order to strengthen the impact of both lines of research. Finally, we discuss how these five concepts might be used to integrate social-ecological resilience and geomorphology to better understand change in, and inform governance of, SESs. To compound these dynamics of resilience, complex systems are nested and cross-scale interactions from smaller and larger scales relative to the system of interest can play formative roles during periods of collapse and reorganization. Large- and small-scale disturbances as well as large-scale system memory/capacity and small-scale innovation can have significant impacts on the trajectory of a reorganizing system (Gunderson and Holling, 2002; Chaffin and Gunderson, 2016). Attempts to measure the property of ecological resilience across complex systems amounts to attempts to measure the persistence of system-controlling variables, including processes, parameters, and important feedbacks, when the system is exposed to varying degrees of disturbance (Folke, 2016).

Applying ecological modeling to parenting for Australian refugee families.

PubMed

Grant, Julian; Guerin, Pauline B

2014-10-01

Children in families with parents from refugee backgrounds are often viewed as a vulnerable group with increased risks of developing physical or psychological problems. However, there is very little research regarding the strategies that parents might use to parent their children in a new country while they also manage the interrelated challenges of poverty, social isolation, maternal stress, and mental ill health that often go along with resettlement. We explore the application of ecological modeling, specifically at individual, institutional, and policy levels, within an Australian context to critique the factors that shape the development of parenting capacity within refugee families settling in a new Western country. Ecological modeling enables examination of how public policy at local state and national levels influences the individual and family directly and through the organizations that are given the task of implementing many of the policy recommendations. Recommendations for health practice and research are made. © The Author(s) 2014.

Civic Ecology: A Postmodern Approach to Ecological Sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopes, V. L.

2013-12-01

Human agency is transforming the planetary processes at unprecedented rates risking damaging essential life-support systems. Climate change, massive species extinction, land degradation, resources depletion, overpopulation, poverty and social injustice are all the result of human choices and non-sustainable ways of life. The survival of our modern economic systems depends upon insatiable consumption - a simple way of life no longer satisfies most people. Detached, instrumental rationality has created an ideal of liberalism based on individual pursuit of self-interest, leading the way into unprecedented material progress but bringing with it human alienation, social injustice, and ecological degradation. The purpose of this presentation is to introduce a community-based systems response to a growing sense that the interlocked social-ecological crisis is as much a problem of human thought and behavior as it is about identifying carrying capacities and CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. This approach, referred to here as civic ecology, presents a new and important paradigm shift in sustainability practice that attempts to bring together and integrate ecological ideas and postmodern thinking. As such, it is as much a holistic, dynamic, and synergistic approach to ecological sustainability, as it is a philosophy of life and ethical perspective born of ecological understanding and insight. Civic ecology starts with the proposition that the key factor determining the health of the ecosphere is the behavior of human beings, and therefore many of the most important issues related to sustainability lie in the areas of human thought and culture. Thus, the quest for sustainability must include as a central concern the transformation of psychological and behavioral patterns that have become an imminent danger to planetary health. At the core of this understanding is a fundamental paradigm shift from the basic commitments of modern Western culture to its model of mechanism and fragmentary modes of existence, to a more relational (ecological) view of the world in which balance and harmony are achieved by ever-changing complexity and differentiation. Central to this view is the recognition that human communities will become increasingly more just and sustainable if their citizens understand, are committed to, and share, a set of values and ecological principles. Shared purposes and principles, however, cannot be handed down from above but must be developed from the bottom-up through community engagement and ecological citizenship.

Seagrass meadows globally as a coupled social-ecological system: implications for human wellbeing.

PubMed

Cullen-Unsworth, Leanne C; Nordlund, Lina Mtwana; Paddock, Jessica; Baker, Susan; McKenzie, Len J; Unsworth, Richard K F

2014-06-30

Seagrass ecosystems are diminishing worldwide and repeated studies confirm a lack of appreciation for the value of these systems. In order to highlight their value we provide the first discussion of seagrass meadows as a coupled social-ecological system on a global scale. We consider the impact of a declining resource on people, including those for whom seagrass meadows are utilised for income generation and a source of food security through fisheries support. Case studies from across the globe are used to demonstrate the intricate relationship between seagrass meadows and people that highlight the multi-functional role of seagrasses in human wellbeing. While each case underscores unique issues, these examples simultaneously reveal social-ecological coupling that transcends cultural and geographical boundaries. We conclude that understanding seagrass meadows as a coupled social-ecological system is crucial in carving pathways for social and ecological resilience in light of current patterns of local to global environmental change. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ecological, Evolutionary and Social Constraints on Reproductive Effort: Are Hoary Marmots Really Biennial Breeders?

PubMed Central

Patil, Vijay P.; Karels, Timothy J.; Hik, David S.

2015-01-01

Biennial breeding is a rare life-history trait observed in animal species living in harsh, unproductive environments. This reproductive pattern is thought to occur in 10 of 14 species in the genus Marmota, making marmots useful model organisms for studying its ecological and evolutionary implications. Biennial breeding in marmots has been described as an obligate pattern which evolved as a mechanism to mitigate the energetic costs of reproduction (Evolved Constraint hypothesis). However, recent anecdotal evidence suggests that it is a facultative pattern controlled by annual variation in climate and food availability (Environmental Constraint hypothesis). Finally, in social animals like marmots, biennial breeding could result from reproductive competition between females within social groups (Social Constraint hypothesis). We evaluated these three hypotheses using mark-recapture data from an 8-year study of hoary marmot (Marmota caligata) population dynamics in the Yukon. Annual variation in breeding probability was modeled using multi-state mark-recapture models, while other reproductive life-history traits were modeled with generalized linear mixed models. Hoary marmots were neither obligate nor facultative biennial breeders, and breeding probability was insensitive to evolved, environmental, or social factors. However, newly mature females were significantly less likely to breed than older individuals. Annual breeding did not result in increased mortality. Female survival and, to a lesser extent, average fecundity were correlated with winter climate, as indexed by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Hoary marmots are less conservative breeders than previously believed, and the evidence for biennial breeding throughout Marmota, and in other arctic/alpine/antarctic animals, should be re-examined. Prediction of future population dynamics requires an accurate understanding of life history strategies, and of how life history traits allow animals to cope with changes in weather and other demographic influences. PMID:25768300

Violent relationships at the social-ecological level: A multi-mediation model to predict adolescent victimization by peers, bullying and depression in early and late adolescence

PubMed Central

Oriol, Xavier; Miranda, Rafael; Acosta, Hedy C.; Mendoza, Michelle C.; Torres-Vallejos, Javier

2017-01-01

Background From the social-ecological perspective, exposure to violence at the different developmental levels is fundamental to explain the dynamics of violence and victimization in educational centers. The following study aims at analyzing how these relationships are produced in the Peruvian context, where structural violence situations exist. Methods A multi-mediation structural model with 21,416 Peruvian adolescents (M = 13.69; SD = 0.71) was conducted to determine the influence of violence in the school environment on violence perceived within school and violence exercised by teachers. In addition, it was also intended to determine whether these violent relationships predict depression through loneliness, and bullying through peer victimization. The existence of differences between early and late adolescence was also verified. Results Results confirm that violence in the school setting has high influence on violence exercised by adolescents and teachers within the school. Teacher violence is the most important predictor of depression through loneliness, and encourages peer victimization and the emergence of aggressive behavior. Exposure to violence exercised by support sources—teachers and classmates—explains more than 90% of the total variance explained in bullying behavior. Differences were found between early and late adolescence models. Conclusion The high prevalence of structural violence in school settings facilitates the bullying/victimization dynamics within school. From a social-ecological perspective, this result suggests the importance of network cooperation at a mesosystem level, with teachers from educational centers playing a crucial role in the prevention of bullying/victimization. PMID:28358905

The puzzle of Buruli ulcer transmission, ethno-ecological history and the end of "love" in the Akonolinga district, Cameroon.

PubMed

Giles-Vernick, Tamara; Owona-Ntsama, Joseph; Landier, Jordi; Eyangoh, Sara

2015-03-01

The "One World One Health Initiative" has attended little to the priorities, concepts and practices of resource-poor communities confronting disease and the implications of these concerns for its biomedical, ecological and institutional approach to disease surveillance and control. Using the example of Buruli ulcer (BU) and its bacterial etiology, Mycobacterium ulcerans, in south-central Cameroon, we build on debates about the contributions of "local knowledge" and "alternative models" to biomedical knowledge of disease transmission. BU's mode of transmission remains poorly understood. Our approach employs ethno-ecological histories - local understandings of the putative emergence and expansion of a locally important, neglected disease. We develop these histories from 52 individual and small group interviews, group discussions, and participant-observation of daily and seasonal activities, conducted in 2013-2013. These histories offer important clues about past environmental and social change that should guide further ecological, epidemiological research. They highlight a key historical moment (the late 1980s and 1990s); specific ecological transformations; new cultivation practices in unexploited zones that potentially increased exposure to M. ulcerans; and ecological degradation that may have lowered nutritional standards and heightened susceptibility to BU. They also recast transmission, broadening insight into BU and its local analog, atom, by emphasizing the role of social change and economic crisis in its emergence and expansion. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Brain shape convergence in the adaptive radiation of New World monkeys

PubMed Central

Aristide, Leandro; dos Reis, Sergio Furtado; Machado, Alessandra C.; Lima, Inaya; Lopes, Ricardo T.; Perez, S. Ivan

2016-01-01

Primates constitute one of the most diverse mammalian clades, and a notable feature of their diversification is the evolution of brain morphology. However, the evolutionary processes and ecological factors behind these changes are largely unknown. In this work, we investigate brain shape diversification of New World monkeys during their adaptive radiation in relation to different ecological dimensions. Our results reveal that brain diversification in this clade can be explained by invoking a model of adaptive peak shifts to unique and shared optima, defined by a multidimensional ecological niche hypothesis. Particularly, we show that the evolution of convergent brain phenotypes may be related to ecological factors associated with group size (e.g., social complexity). Together, our results highlight the complexity of brain evolution and the ecological significance of brain shape changes during the evolutionary diversification of a primate clade. PMID:26858427

Participatory Systems Modeling to Explore Sustainable Solutions: Triple Value Simulation Modeling Cases Tackle Nutrient and Watershed Management from a Socio-Ecological Systems (SES) perspective

EPA Science Inventory

Decision makers often need assistance in understanding dynamic interactions and linkages among economic, environmental and social systems in coastal watersheds. They also need scientific input to better evaluate potential costs and benefits of alternative policy interventions. Th...

A Path Analysis of a Randomized "Promotora de Salud" Cardiovascular Disease-Prevention Trial among At-Risk Hispanic Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Heer, Hendrik Dirk; Balcazar, Hector G.; Castro, Felipe; Schulz, Leslie

2012-01-01

This study assessed effectiveness of an educational community intervention taught by "promotoras de salud" in reducing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among Hispanics using a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. Model development was guided by a social ecological framework proposing CVD risk reduction through improvement of…

A Socioecological Model of Rape Survivors' Decisions to Aid in Case Prosecution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anders, Mary C.; Christopher, F. Scott

2011-01-01

The purpose of our study was to identify factors underlying rape survivors' post-assault prosecution decisions by testing a decision model that included the complex relations between the multiple social ecological systems within which rape survivors are embedded. We coded 440 police rape cases for characteristics of the assault and characteristics…

Eco-HAB as a fully automated and ecologically relevant assessment of social impairments in mouse models of autism

PubMed Central

Puścian, Alicja; Łęski, Szymon; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Winiarski, Maciej; Borowska, Joanna; Nikolaev, Tomasz; Boguszewski, Paweł M; Lipp, Hans-Peter; Knapska, Ewelina

2016-01-01

Eco-HAB is an open source, RFID-based system for automated measurement and analysis of social preference and in-cohort sociability in mice. The system closely follows murine ethology. It requires no contact between a human experimenter and tested animals, overcoming the confounding factors that lead to irreproducible assessment of murine social behavior between laboratories. In Eco-HAB, group-housed animals live in a spacious, four-compartment apparatus with shadowed areas and narrow tunnels, resembling natural burrows. Eco-HAB allows for assessment of the tendency of mice to voluntarily spend time together in ethologically relevant mouse group sizes. Custom-made software for automated tracking, data extraction, and analysis enables quick evaluation of social impairments. The developed protocols and standardized behavioral measures demonstrate high replicability. Unlike classic three-chambered sociability tests, Eco-HAB provides measurements of spontaneous, ecologically relevant social behaviors in group-housed animals. Results are obtained faster, with less manpower, and without confounding factors. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.19532.001 PMID:27731798

Disruptive selection as a driver of evolutionary branching and caste evolution in social insects.

PubMed

Planqué, R; Powell, S; Franks, N R; van den Berg, J B

2016-11-01

Theory suggests that evolutionary branching via disruptive selection may be a relatively common and powerful force driving phenotypic divergence. Here, we extend this theory to social insects, which have novel social axes of phenotypic diversification. Our model, built around turtle ant (Cephalotes) biology, is used to explore whether disruptive selection can drive the evolutionary branching of divergent colony phenotypes that include a novel soldier caste. Soldier evolution is a recurrent theme in social insect diversification that is exemplified in the turtle ants. We show that phenotypic mutants can gain competitive advantages that induce disruptive selection and subsequent branching. A soldier caste does not generally appear before branching, but can evolve from subsequent competition. The soldier caste then evolves in association with specialized resource preferences that maximize defensive performance. Overall, our model indicates that resource specialization may occur in the absence of morphological specialization, but that when morphological specialization evolves, it is always in association with resource specialization. This evolutionary coupling of ecological and morphological specialization is consistent with recent empirical evidence, but contrary to predictions of classical caste theory. Our model provides a new theoretical understanding of the ecology of caste evolution that explicitly considers the process of adaptive phenotypic divergence and diversification. © 2016 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2016 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

Modeling Trans-Scale Social Processes

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-05-01

community as an ecology of games • Ludwig Wittgenstein , 1958 – Philosophical investigations • Harold Garfinkel, 1963 – A concept of, and experiments with...and realize qualitative game insights Multigame interactions Ludwig Wittgenstein . Family Resemblances among Games • Consider the proceedings

The Social Context Network Model in Psychiatric and Neurological Diseases.

PubMed

Baez, Sandra; García, Adolfo M; Ibanez, Agustín

2017-01-01

The role of contextual modulations has been extensively studied in basic sensory and cognitive processes. However, little is known about their impact on social cognition, let alone their disruption in disorders compromising such a domain. In this chapter, we flesh out the social context network model (SCNM), a neuroscientific proposal devised to address the issue. In SCNM terms, social context effects rely on a fronto-temporo-insular network in charge of (a) updating context cues to make predictions, (b) consolidating context-target associative learning, and (c) coordinating internal and external milieus. First, we characterize various social cognition domains as context-dependent phenomena. Then, we review behavioral and neural evidence of social context impairments in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), highlighting their relation with key SCNM hubs. Next, we show that other psychiatric and neurological conditions involve context-processing impairments following damage to the brain regions included in the model. Finally, we call for an ecological approach to social cognition assessment, moving beyond widespread abstract and decontextualized methods.

Ecological aspects of auditory rehabilitation.

PubMed

Borg, E

2000-03-01

Speech and language communication represents an important aspect of interaction between humans and their social environment. In this respect, communication can be analysed in analogy with ecological systems. A conceptual framework based on this analogy has been presented recently and is further developed in this paper. In particular, the consequences for design and accomplishment of auditory rehabilitation are discussed in relation to our own studies. The ecological model contains three levels of interpersonal interaction: signal, message and behaviour, as well as an interaction with the social and physical background. Sensory information is treated in afferent neural systems, processed in language centres and expressed via the vocal system. The communication situation is evaluated and compared with the internal reference "preferendum". The discrepancy between this internal template, a self-image and the perceived reality gives rise to a feedback signal that acts on the components of the communication process within the individual and in the environment, on the one hand, and on the preferendum, on the other. The role of language training, speaking behaviour, meta-communication, e.g. reporting lack of understanding or acknowledging understood messages, are made apparent through an application of the model to rehabilitation.

Geography as destiny? Social and ecological resilience in rangelands of the American southwest

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Background/Question/Methods: Social-ecological systems perspectives focus on the reciprocal relationships between human and natural ecosystem elements and how these interactions determine human well-being, ecological state change, and land use change. In the arid southwestern US, which is dominated...

Sexual behavior problems in preteen children: developmental, ecological, and behavioral correlates.

PubMed

Friedrich, W N; Davies, W Hobart; Feher, Eleonora; Wright, John

2003-06-01

A large sample of 2-12 year old children (N = 2311) was studied to determine the relationship between three sexually intrusive behavior items (SIBs) measured by the Child Sexual Behavior Inventory (CSBI) and a range of developmental, ecological, and behavioral correlates. The variables studied included age, gender, race, family income, single parent status, maternal education, family sexual behaviors, physical abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence, social competence of the child, and three scales from the CBCL (Internalizing, Externalizing, and PTSD). Sexual abuse was not the primary predictor of SIB, but a model incorporating family adversity, modeling of coercive behavior, child behavior, and modeling of sexuality predicted a significant amount of variance.

Adaptive invasive species distribution models: A framework for modeling incipient invasions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Uden, Daniel R.; Allen, Craig R.; Angeler, David G.; Corral, Lucia; Fricke, Kent A.

2015-01-01

The utilization of species distribution model(s) (SDM) for approximating, explaining, and predicting changes in species’ geographic locations is increasingly promoted for proactive ecological management. Although frameworks for modeling non-invasive species distributions are relatively well developed, their counterparts for invasive species—which may not be at equilibrium within recipient environments and often exhibit rapid transformations—are lacking. Additionally, adaptive ecological management strategies address the causes and effects of biological invasions and other complex issues in social-ecological systems. We conducted a review of biological invasions, species distribution models, and adaptive practices in ecological management, and developed a framework for adaptive, niche-based, invasive species distribution model (iSDM) development and utilization. This iterative, 10-step framework promotes consistency and transparency in iSDM development, allows for changes in invasive drivers and filters, integrates mechanistic and correlative modeling techniques, balances the avoidance of type 1 and type 2 errors in predictions, encourages the linking of monitoring and management actions, and facilitates incremental improvements in models and management across space, time, and institutional boundaries. These improvements are useful for advancing coordinated invasive species modeling, management and monitoring from local scales to the regional, continental and global scales at which biological invasions occur and harm native ecosystems and economies, as well as for anticipating and responding to biological invasions under continuing global change.

Individual dispersal delays in a cooperative breeder: Ecological constraints, the benefits of philopatry and the social queue for dominance.

PubMed

Nelson-Flower, Martha J; Wiley, Elizabeth M; Flower, Tom P; Ridley, Amanda R

2018-03-20

Delayed dispersal is a key step in the evolution of familial animal societies and cooperative breeding. However, no consensus has been reached on the ecological and social circumstances driving delayed dispersal. Here, we test predictions from the ecological constraints and benefits of philopatry hypotheses as well as the recently proposed dual benefits hypothesis to better understand the evolution of group-living and cooperative breeding. Furthermore, we consider how individual social circumstances within groups affect dispersal decisions. We examine 11 years of life-history information on a wild population of cooperatively breeding southern pied babblers Turdoides bicolor. We investigate the effects of ecological conditions, natal-group membership and individual social context on male and female dispersal delays, disperser survival and acquisition of dominance. Female dispersal decisions are generally unconstrained by ecological or social circumstances. In contrast, males disperse in response to relaxed ecological constraints, decreases in nepotistic tolerance or when low social rank in the queue for dominance decreases their likelihood of gaining a dominant breeding position. Early dispersal by end-of-queue males often leads to a head-of-queue subordinate position in a non-natal group, thereby increasing access to dominant breeding positions. However, males and females remaining in natal groups gain benefits of philopatry via increased survival and, for head-of-queue males, very high likelihood of acquisition of a breeding position. Overall, predictions from the dual benefits hypothesis best describe these results, while some predictions from each of the ecological constraints and benefits of philopatry hypotheses were supported. The benefits of living and working together (collective action benefits) in large stable groups are of central importance in shaping dispersal delays in southern pied babbler societies. In addition, position in the subordinate social queue for dominance is the key in determining access to reproduction, particularly for males. This research highlights the importance of considering the costs and benefits of individual social circumstances in dispersal decisions and illustrates how the dual benefits hypothesis offers new perspectives in understanding delayed dispersal. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2018 British Ecological Society.

Managing small-scale commercial fisheries for adaptive capacity: insights from dynamic social-ecological drivers of change in Monterey Bay.

PubMed

Aguilera, Stacy E; Cole, Jennifer; Finkbeiner, Elena M; Le Cornu, Elodie; Ban, Natalie C; Carr, Mark H; Cinner, Joshua E; Crowder, Larry B; Gelcich, Stefan; Hicks, Christina C; Kittinger, John N; Martone, Rebecca; Malone, Daniel; Pomeroy, Carrie; Starr, Richard M; Seram, Sanah; Zuercher, Rachel; Broad, Kenneth

2015-01-01

Globally, small-scale fisheries are influenced by dynamic climate, governance, and market drivers, which present social and ecological challenges and opportunities. It is difficult to manage fisheries adaptively for fluctuating drivers, except to allow participants to shift effort among multiple fisheries. Adapting to changing conditions allows small-scale fishery participants to survive economic and environmental disturbances and benefit from optimal conditions. This study explores the relative influence of large-scale drivers on shifts in effort and outcomes among three closely linked fisheries in Monterey Bay since the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act of 1976. In this region, Pacific sardine (Sardinops sagax), northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax), and market squid (Loligo opalescens) fisheries comprise a tightly linked system where shifting focus among fisheries is a key element to adaptive capacity and reduced social and ecological vulnerability. Using a cluster analysis of landings, we identify four modes from 1974 to 2012 that are dominated (i.e., a given species accounting for the plurality of landings) by squid, sardine, anchovy, or lack any dominance, and seven points of transition among these periods. This approach enables us to determine which drivers are associated with each mode and each transition. Overall, we show that market and climate drivers are predominantly attributed to dominance transitions. Model selection of external drivers indicates that governance phases, reflected as perceived abundance, dictate long-term outcomes. Our findings suggest that globally, small-scale fishery managers should consider enabling shifts in effort among fisheries and retaining existing flexibility, as adaptive capacity is a critical determinant for social and ecological resilience.

An Integrated Model for Identifying Linkages Between the Management of Fuel Treatments, Fire and Ecosystem Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bart, R. R.; Anderson, S.; Moritz, M.; Plantinga, A.; Tague, C.

2015-12-01

Vegetation fuel treatments (e.g. thinning, prescribed burning) are a frequent tool for managing fire-prone landscapes. However, predicting how fuel treatments may affect future wildfire risk and associated ecosystem services, such as forest water availability and streamflow, remains a challenge. This challenge is in part due to the large range of conditions under which fuel treatments may be implemented, as response is likely to vary with species type, rates of vegetation regrowth, meteorological conditions and physiographic properties of the treated site. It is also due to insufficient understanding of how social factors such as political pressure, public demands and economic constraints affect fuel management decisions. To examine the feedbacks between ecological and social dimensions of fuel treatments, we present an integrated model that links a biophysical model that simulates vegetation and hydrology (RHESSys), a fire spread model (WMFire) and an empirical fuel treatment model that accounts for agency decision-making. We use this model to investigate how management decisions affect landscape fuel loads, which in turn affect fire severity and ecosystem services, which feedback to management decisions on fuel treatments. We hypothesize that this latter effect will be driven by salience theory, which predicts that fuel treatments are more likely to occur following major wildfire events. The integrated model provides a flexible framework for answering novel questions about fuel treatments that span social and ecological domains, areas that have previously been treated separately.

Social ecological factors associated with future orientation of children affected by parental HIV infection and AIDS.

PubMed

Lin, Xiuyun; Fang, Xiaoyi; Chi, Peilian; Heath, Melissa Allen; Li, Xiaoming; Chen, Wenrui

2016-07-01

From a social ecological perspective, this study examined the effects of stigma (societal level), trusting relationships with current caregivers (familial level), and self-esteem (individual level) on future orientation of children affected by HIV infection and AIDS. Comparing self-report data from 1221 children affected by parental HIV infection and AIDS and 404 unaffected children, affected children reported greater stigma and lower future orientation, trusting relationships, and self-esteem. Based on structural equation modeling, stigma experiences, trusting relationships, and self-esteem had direct effects on future orientation, with self-esteem and trusting relationships partially mediating the effect of stigma experiences on children's future orientation. Implications are discussed. © The Author(s) 2014.

Panglobalism and pandemics: ecological and ethical concerns.

PubMed

Rolston, Holmes

2005-10-01

A pandemic is a human medical problem but must be understood at multiple levels. Analysis of social and commercial forces is vital, and, more comprehensively, an ecological framework is necessary for an inclusive picture. Ecological health webworked with political and social determinants surrounds issues of human health. In this constellation of both natural and social factors, ethical concerns will arise at these multiple levels, from human health to the conservation and health of wild nature.

A Social-Ecological Analysis of the Self-Determination Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shogren, Karrie A.

2013-01-01

This paper uses a social-ecological lens to examine self-determination research, attempting to organize what is known (and unknown) about contextual factors that have the potential to impact the development and expression of self-determined behavior in people with disabilities across multiple ecological systems. Identifying and categorizing the…

[Tourism ecological security early warning of Zhangjiajie, China based on the improved TOPSIS method and the grey GM (1,1)model].

PubMed

Xu, Mei; Liu, Chun la; Li, Dan; Zhong, Xiao Lin

2017-11-01

Tourism ecological security early warning is of great significance both to the coordination of ecological environment protection and tourism industry rapid development in tourism destination, and the sustainable and healthy development of regional social and economy. Firstly, based on the DPSIR model, the tourism ecological security early warning index system of Zhangjiajie was constructed from 5 aspects, which were driving force, pressure, state, impact and response. Then, by using the improved TOPSIS method, the tourism ecological security situation of Zhangjiajie from 2001 to 2014 was analyzed. Lastly, by using the grey GM (1,1) model, the tourism ecological security evolution trend of 2015-2020 was predicted. The results indicated that, on the whole, the close degree of Zhangjiajie's tourism ecological security showed a slightly upward trend during 2001-2014, the warning degree was the moderate warning. In terms of each subsystem, warning degree of the driving force system and the pressure system of Zhangjiajie's tourism ecological secu-rity were on the rise, which evolved from light warning to heavy warning; warning degree of the state system and the impact system had not changed so much, and had been in the moderate warning; warning degree of the response system was on the decline, which changed from huge warning to no warning during 2001-2014. According to the current development trend, the close degree of Zhangjiajie's tourism ecological security would rise further in 2015-2020, and the warning degree would turn from moderate warning into light warning, but the task of coordinating the relationship between tourism development and ecological construction and environmental protection would be still arduous.

Vegetation cover in relation to socioeconomic factors in a tropical city assessed from sub-meter resolution imagery.

PubMed

Martinuzzi, Sebastián; Ramos-González, Olga M; Muñoz-Erickson, Tischa A; Locke, Dexter H; Lugo, Ariel E; Radeloff, Volker C

2018-04-01

Fine-scale information about urban vegetation and social-ecological relationships is crucial to inform both urban planning and ecological research, and high spatial resolution imagery is a valuable tool for assessing urban areas. However, urban ecology and remote sensing have largely focused on cities in temperate zones. Our goal was to characterize urban vegetation cover with sub-meter (<1 m) resolution aerial imagery, and identify social-ecological relationships of urban vegetation patterns in a tropical city, the San Juan Metropolitan Area, Puerto Rico. Our specific objectives were to (1) map vegetation cover using sub-meter spatial resolution (0.3-m) imagery, (2) quantify the amount of residential and non-residential vegetation, and (3) investigate the relationship between patterns of urban vegetation vs. socioeconomic and environmental factors. We found that 61% of the San Juan Metropolitan Area was green and that our combination of high spatial resolution imagery and object-based classification was highly successful for extracting vegetation cover in a moist tropical city (97% accuracy). In addition, simple spatial pattern analysis allowed us to separate residential from non-residential vegetation with 76% accuracy, and patterns of residential and non-residential vegetation varied greatly across the city. Both socioeconomic (e.g., population density, building age, detached homes) and environmental variables (e.g., topography) were important in explaining variations in vegetation cover in our spatial regression models. However, important socioeconomic drivers found in cities in temperate zones, such as income and home value, were not important in San Juan. Climatic and cultural differences between tropical and temperate cities may result in different social-ecological relationships. Our study provides novel information for local land use planners, highlights the value of high spatial resolution remote sensing data to advance ecological research and urban planning in tropical cities, and emphasizes the need for more studies in tropical cities. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Do Community-based Institutions Build Resilience to Climate Change in Mongolia?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernandez-Gimenez, M.

2012-12-01

Climate change impacts are inherently local, yet relatively little is known about the role of local people and institutions in adapting to climate change. Mongolia has experienced one of the strongest warming trends on Earth over the past 40 years, associated declines in streamflow, and increases in the frequency of extreme winter weather events. Environmental changes are compounded by rapid political, economic and social transformations beginning in 1990. We investigate the complex interactions of social, ecological and climate changes across multiple levels from local to regional to national. We hypothesize that community-based institutions increase resilience by strengthening self-regulating feedbacks between social and ecological systems through development and enforcement of formal management rules, implementation of innovative management practices, strengthening of social networks and information exchange within and across levels of social organization, and enhanced monitoring. These result in better ecological and socio-economic conditions and greater adaptive capacity in areas under formal community-based management compared to adjacent areas without formal community management institutions. Evaluation of this hypothesis involves integrated collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative ecological, social and hydro-climatic data at household, community and regional levels of spatial and social organization. Here, we present preliminary results evaluating these hypotheses from 10 counties (soum) in 3 provinces (aimag) in the Gobi desert-steppe of southern Mongolia based on household-level social data and plot-level ecological data representing. Our initial findings support the hypothesis that community-based institutions are associated with greater household adaptive capacity and healthier pasture ecological conditions, characterized by greater perennial vegetation cover and biomass, especially in the functional group most important for livestock production, grasses. Our results suggest that even in the Gobi desert-steppe, where inter-annual variations in climate and vegetation production are high, formal community-based management institutions may play an important role in enhancing the adaptive capacity of social-ecological systems.

The possibility of coexistence and co-development in language competition: ecology-society computational model and simulation.

PubMed

Yun, Jian; Shang, Song-Chao; Wei, Xiao-Dan; Liu, Shuang; Li, Zhi-Jie

2016-01-01

Language is characterized by both ecological properties and social properties, and competition is the basic form of language evolution. The rise and decline of one language is a result of competition between languages. Moreover, this rise and decline directly influences the diversity of human culture. Mathematics and computer modeling for language competition has been a popular topic in the fields of linguistics, mathematics, computer science, ecology, and other disciplines. Currently, there are several problems in the research on language competition modeling. First, comprehensive mathematical analysis is absent in most studies of language competition models. Next, most language competition models are based on the assumption that one language in the model is stronger than the other. These studies tend to ignore cases where there is a balance of power in the competition. The competition between two well-matched languages is more practical, because it can facilitate the co-development of two languages. A third issue with current studies is that many studies have an evolution result where the weaker language inevitably goes extinct. From the integrated point of view of ecology and sociology, this paper improves the Lotka-Volterra model and basic reaction-diffusion model to propose an "ecology-society" computational model for describing language competition. Furthermore, a strict and comprehensive mathematical analysis was made for the stability of the equilibria. Two languages in competition may be either well-matched or greatly different in strength, which was reflected in the experimental design. The results revealed that language coexistence, and even co-development, are likely to occur during language competition.

Ecosystem stewardship: good idea, but how?

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Ecosystem stewardship and resilience-based management are admirable concepts that remain largely conceptual. Beyond a suite of general ideas, including linkages among ecological models, monitoring, stakeholder engagement, and social learning, there is not a replicable method to use the ideas in the ...

Learning through Participatory Action Research for Community Ecotourism Planning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guevara, Jose Roberto Q.

1996-01-01

Ecologically sound tourism planning and policy require an empowering community participation. The participatory action research model helps a community gain understanding of its social reality, learn how to learn, initiate dialog, and discover new possibilities for addressing its situation. (SK)

Validating a method for transferring social values of ecosystem services between public lands in the Rocky Mountain region

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sherrouse, Benson C.; Semmens, Darius J.

2014-01-01

With growing pressures on ecosystem services, social values attributed to them are increasingly important to land management decisions. Social values, defined here as perceived values the public ascribes to ecosystem services, particularly cultural services, are generally not accounted for through economic markets or considered alongside economic and ecological values in ecosystem service assessments. Social-values data can be elicited through public value and preference surveys; however, limitations prevent them from being regularly collected. These limitations led to our three study objectives: (1) demonstrate an approach for applying benefit transfer, a nonmarket-valuation method, to spatially explicit social values; (2) validate the approach; and (3) identify potential improvements. We applied Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) to survey data for three national forests in Colorado and Wyoming. Social-value maps and models were generated, describing relationships between the maps and various combinations of environmental variables. Models from each forest were used to estimate social-value maps for the other forests via benefit transfer. Model performance was evaluated relative to the locally derived models. Performance varied with the number and type of environmental variables used, as well as differences in the forests' physical and social contexts. Enhanced metadata and better social-context matching could improve model transferability.

The historical dynamics of social-ecological traps.

PubMed

Boonstra, Wiebren J; de Boer, Florianne W

2014-04-01

Environmental degradation is a typical unintended outcome of collective human behavior. Hardin's metaphor of the "tragedy of the commons" has become a conceived wisdom that captures the social dynamics leading to environmental degradation. Recently, "traps" has gained currency as an alternative concept to explain the rigidity of social and ecological processes that produce environmental degradation and livelihood impoverishment. The trap metaphor is, however, a great deal more complex compared to Hardin's insight. This paper takes stock of studies using the trap metaphor. It argues that the concept includes time and history in the analysis, but only as background conditions and not as a factor of causality. From a historical-sociological perspective this is remarkable since social-ecological traps are clearly path-dependent processes, which are causally produced through a conjunction of events. To prove this point the paper conceptualizes social-ecological traps as a process instead of a condition, and systematically compares history and timing in one classic and three recent studies of social-ecological traps. Based on this comparison it concludes that conjunction of social and environmental events contributes profoundly to the production of trap processes. The paper further discusses the implications of this conclusion for policy intervention and outlines how future research might generalize insights from historical-sociological studies of traps.

A socio-ecological model for unintentional injuries in minorities: a case study of Arab Israeli children.

PubMed

Baron-Epel, Orna; Ivancovsky, Michal

2015-01-01

Minority children have often been reported to be at high risk of injury. The higher levels of reported unintentional injuries among Arab children compared to Jewish children in Israel are mainly due to pedestrian traffic crashes, falls and burns. Arab children aged 1-4 years have a higher relative risk of injury compared to Jews. We suggest a socio-ecological model to explain these differences in risk based on individual, interpersonal, community and societal ecological levels of society. Each level is divided into social and physical environments and behaviour. Two main factors may contribute to the high rates of injury among Arab children: the quality of the physical environment in which the children live and play and the levels of child supervision. Socio-economic status may contribute to these differences at all ecological levels of society. This approach could be useful for researchers and practitioners to analyse similar issues in other communities and help develop appropriate interventions.

Using a Multi-Method Approach to Examine Social-Ecological Vulnerability to Climate Change and Natural Resource Policies on the Tibetan Plateau

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klein, J.; Hopping, K. A.; Yeh, E.; Nyima, Y.; Galvin, K.; Boone, R.; Dorje, T.; Ojima, D. S.

2012-12-01

Pastoralists and ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau are facing a suite of novel stresses. Temperatures are increasing several times more than the global average. The frequency and severity of severe snowstorms, which lead to critical losses of livestock, are also increasing. Pastoralists are also experiencing changes to their livelihood activities, including reduced mobility and severe grazing restrictions. We are using interdisciplinary frameworks and methods that integrate results from a multifactor ecological experiment, household interviews, remote sensing, and a coupled ecosystem and household decision-making model to examine herder and ecosystem vulnerability to climate change and extreme weather events (snow disasters) within the context of changing natural resource management policies in China. The fully factorial ecological experiment includes two climate changes (warming and spring snow additions) and two types of grazing (yak and pika) that are being affected by current policy. We established the experiment in 2008 within the Tibet Autonomous Region. We are monitoring microclimate, vegetation, nutrient availability, ecosystem carbon fluxes and stable isotope signatures of select plant species. Through this experiment, we are investigating the sensitivity of the system, whether it can cross critical thresholds, and how resilient this system may be to predicted future climate and land use changes. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews on indigenous knowledge and vulnerability complement the ecological experimental work. We are asking herders about climate and ecological change and their drivers and are also conducting interviews on vulnerability to snow disasters across a three site, 300-500mm precipitation gradient. We are using remote sensing to identify biophysical landscape change over time. To integrate our ecological and social findings, we are coupling the Savanna ecosystem model to the DECUMA agent-based pastoral household model. Our results to date from the experiment and the indigenous knowledge study suggest that Kobresia pygmaea, the dominant plant species and the primary grazing resource, is vulnerable to warming. Moreover, several lines of evidence suggest that warming is causing delayed spring phenology, with important ecosystem and livelihood implications. Herders are observing climatic and ecological changes, knowledge which is important for adaptation, but people whose livelihoods are most directly derived from the rangelands, those situated at higher elevations, and those who are more mobile across the landscape are most attuned to these changes. These results suggest that rangeland degradation and delayed spring phenology are occurring, and that climate warming may be responsible for these changes. While additional snow may improve ecological conditions, the warming-induced degradation may make the social-ecological system more vulnerable to large snowstorm events. Our findings suggest that climate adaptation strategies should address the effects of both climate warming and the changing nature of extreme weather events and should also encourage land use policies that will maintain these systems under change. Moreover, policies that encourage mobility and rangeland-based livelihoods will enhance adaptation to climate change.

Social affordances and the possibility of ecological linguistics.

PubMed

Kono, Tetsuya

2009-12-01

This paper includes an effort to extend the notion of affordance from a philosophical point of view the importance of ecological approach for social psychology, ethics, and linguistics. Affordances are not always merely physical but also interpersonal and social. I will conceptualize affordance in general and social affordance in particular, and will elucidate the relation between intentional action and affordances, and that between affordances and free will. I will also focus on the relation between social institution and affordance. An extended theory of affordances can provide a way to analyze in concrete ways how social institution works as an implicit background of interpersonal interactions. Ecological approach considers social institution as the producer and maintainer of affordances. Social institutions construct the niches for human beings. Finally, I will argue the possibility of the ecological linguistics. Language is a social institution. The system of signs is the way to articulate and differentiate interpersonal affordances. Language acquires its meaning, i.e. communicative power in the interpersonal interactions, and interpersonal interactions, in turn, develop and are elaborated through the usage of signs. Communication is seen as never aimed to transmit inner ideas to others, but to guide and adjust the behaviors of others thorough articulating the affordance of responsible-ness.

Using Technology and the Ecological Model of Constraints to Develop Story-Based Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mowling, Claire M.; Menear, Kristi; Dennen, Ayla; Fittipaldi-Wert, Jeanine

2018-01-01

The use of technology has proven to be a successful tool for enhancing the learning of children with disabilities. One example is the use of video-recorded social story movies as interventions for children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Through the use of electronic devices such as iPads, iPods and tablets, social stories are brought to…

Contrasting impacts of competition on ecological and social trait evolution in songbirds

PubMed Central

Tobias, Joseph A.; Burns, Kevin J.; Mason, Nicholas A.; Shultz, Allison J.; Morlon, Hélène

2018-01-01

Competition between closely related species has long been viewed as a powerful selective force that drives trait diversification, thereby generating phenotypic diversity over macroevolutionary timescales. However, although the impact of interspecific competition has been documented in a handful of iconic insular radiations, most previous studies have focused on traits involved in resource use, and few have examined the role of competition across large, continental radiations. Thus, the extent to which broad-scale patterns of phenotypic diversity are shaped by competition remain largely unclear, particularly for social traits. Here, we estimate the effect of competition between interacting lineages by applying new phylogenetic models that account for such interactions to an exceptionally complete dataset of resource-use traits and social signaling traits for the entire radiation of tanagers (Aves, Thraupidae), the largest family of songbirds. We find that interspecific competition strongly influences the evolution of traits involved in resource use, with a weaker effect on plumage signals, and very little effect on song. Our results provide compelling evidence that interspecific exploitative competition contributes to ecological trait diversification among coexisting species, even in a large continental radiation. In comparison, signal traits mediating mate choice and social competition seem to diversify under different evolutionary models, including rapid diversification in the allopatric stage of speciation. PMID:29385141

Contrasting impacts of competition on ecological and social trait evolution in songbirds.

PubMed

Drury, Jonathan P; Tobias, Joseph A; Burns, Kevin J; Mason, Nicholas A; Shultz, Allison J; Morlon, Hélène

2018-01-01

Competition between closely related species has long been viewed as a powerful selective force that drives trait diversification, thereby generating phenotypic diversity over macroevolutionary timescales. However, although the impact of interspecific competition has been documented in a handful of iconic insular radiations, most previous studies have focused on traits involved in resource use, and few have examined the role of competition across large, continental radiations. Thus, the extent to which broad-scale patterns of phenotypic diversity are shaped by competition remain largely unclear, particularly for social traits. Here, we estimate the effect of competition between interacting lineages by applying new phylogenetic models that account for such interactions to an exceptionally complete dataset of resource-use traits and social signaling traits for the entire radiation of tanagers (Aves, Thraupidae), the largest family of songbirds. We find that interspecific competition strongly influences the evolution of traits involved in resource use, with a weaker effect on plumage signals, and very little effect on song. Our results provide compelling evidence that interspecific exploitative competition contributes to ecological trait diversification among coexisting species, even in a large continental radiation. In comparison, signal traits mediating mate choice and social competition seem to diversify under different evolutionary models, including rapid diversification in the allopatric stage of speciation.

Choices Matter, but How Do We Model Them?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brelsford, C.; Dumas, M.

2017-12-01

Quantifying interactions between social systems and the physical environment we live within has long been a major scientific challenge. Humans have had such a large influence on our environment that it is no longer reasonable to consider the behavior of an ecological or hydrological system from a purely `physical' perspective: imagining a system that excludes the influence of human choices and behavior. Understanding the role that human social choices play in the energy water nexus is crucial for developing accurate models in that space. The relatively new field of socio-hydrology is making progress towards understanding the role humans play in hydrological systems. While this fact is now widely recognized across the many academic fields that study water systems, we have yet to develop a coherent set of theories for how to model the behavior of these complex and highly interdependent socio-hydrological systems. How should we conceptualize hydrological systems as socio-ecological systems (i.e. system with variables, states, parameters, actors who can control certain variables and a sense of the desirability of states) within which the rigorous study of feedbacks becomes possible? This talk reviews the state of knowledge of how social decisions around water consumption, allocation, and transport influence and are influenced by the physical hydrology that water also moves within. We cover recent papers in socio-hydrology, engineering, water law, and institutional analysis. There have been several calls within socio-hydrology to model human social behavior endogenously along with the hydrology. These improvements are needed across a range of spatial and temporal scales. We suggest two potential strategies for coupled models that allow endogenous water consumption behavior: a social first model which looks for empirical relationships between water consumption and allocation choices and the hydrological state, and a hydrology first model in which we look for regularities in how water regimes influence behavior, regional economies, or allocation institutions.

Responding to the Ecological Crisis: Transformative Pathways for Social Work Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Peter

2010-01-01

The nature and extent of the current ecological crisis raises the question: Does social work have a contribution to make in addressing the social and environmental changes required if we are to move toward a sustainable future? Given the links between the traditional concerns of social work and the emerging concerns of environmental and ecological…

Ecological Features of Preschools and the Social Engagement of Children with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reszka, Stephanie S.; Odom, Samuel L.; Hume, Kara A.

2012-01-01

One way to support the social engagement of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is by identifying features of natural environments that increase the likelihood of social interaction. This descriptive study was an examination of the (a) social engagement of 68 preschoolers with ASD in classrooms, (b) ecological features of classrooms that…

The social and political lives of zoonotic disease models: narratives, science and policy.

PubMed

Leach, Melissa; Scoones, Ian

2013-07-01

Zoonotic diseases currently pose both major health threats and complex scientific and policy challenges, to which modelling is increasingly called to respond. In this article we argue that the challenges are best met by combining multiple models and modelling approaches that elucidate the various epidemiological, ecological and social processes at work. These models should not be understood as neutral science informing policy in a linear manner, but as having social and political lives: social, cultural and political norms and values that shape their development and which they carry and project. We develop and illustrate this argument in relation to the cases of H5N1 avian influenza and Ebola, exploring for each the range of modelling approaches deployed and the ways they have been co-constructed with a particular politics of policy. Addressing the complex, uncertain dynamics of zoonotic disease requires such social and political lives to be made explicit in approaches that aim at triangulation rather than integration, and plural and conditional rather than singular forms of policy advice. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Social-Ecological System in Seagrass Ecosystem Management at Kotania Bay Waters, Western Seram, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wawo, Mintje

2017-10-01

The concept of the Social-Ecological System (SES) of the coastal region, can be found in the seagrass ecosystem in the Kotania Bay Waters. Seagrass ecosystem as one of the productive ecosystem is part of an ecological system that can influence and influenced social system, in this case by people living around the seagrass ecosystem. This aim to estimating the socio-ecological vulnerability system of the seagrass ecosystem in the Kotania Bay Waters, the Linkage Matrix is used (de Chazal et al., 2008). This linkage matrix was created to determine the perception and understanding of the community on the ecosystem services provided by the seagrass ecosystem through the appraisal of various stakeholders. The results show that social values are rooted in the public perception of ecosystem goods and services, which are rarely considered. The ecological and economic value of natural resources is increasingly being used to determine the priority areas in the planning and management of coastal areas. The social value that exists in natural resources is highly recognized in conservation.

A comparative gradient approach as a tool for understanding and managing urban ecosystems

Treesearch

Christopher G. Boone; Elizabeth Cook; Sharon J. Hall; Marcia L. Nation; Nancy B. Grimm; Carol B. Raish; Deborah M. Finch; Abigail M. York

2012-01-01

To meet the grand challenges of the urban century - such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and persistent poverty - urban and ecological theory must contribute to integrated frameworks that treat social and ecological dynamics as interdependent. A socioecological framework that encapsulates theory from the social and ecological sciences will improve understanding...

Diverse grazing management strategies produce similar ecological outcomes on ranches in the Western Great Plains: A social-ecological assessment

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Traditionally, grazing experiments have excluded ranch-scale decision-making. This has contributed to a lack of understanding of feedbacks between social and ecological processes at this scale. We conducted interviews and vegetation monitoring on 17 ranches in eastern Colorado and eastern Wyoming to...

The Everyday Ways That School Ecologies Facilitate Resilience: Implications for School Psychologists

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Theron, Linda C.

2016-01-01

From a socio-ecological perspective of resilience, social ecologies are crucial to children's functional outcomes in the face of adversity. Schools, in particular, are integral to the multiple social systems that children are embedded in. Consequently schools have a special responsibility towards meaningfully and routinely supporting children's…

Island Ecology: An Exploration of Place in the Elementary Art Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hansen, Erica

2009-01-01

The environment is comprised of multiple dimensions, including natural, social, and built surroundings that people experience locally. Taken as a whole these local environs make up the larger ecological conditions experienced globally. Fostering a critical awareness of nature is the first step in supporting ecological or social change. Art…

Social Work in the Ecological Crisis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berger, Raymond M.; Kelly, James J.

1993-01-01

Notes that, with advent of modern technology, human activity has altered biosphere in ways that are harmful to living systems. Contends that social work can play important role in facilitating human adaptation to such ecological change and that, to do so, profession will need to articulate values and purposes that encompass ecological concerns.…

Risk, Protection, and Achievement Disparities among African American Males: Cross-Generation Theory, Research, and Comprehensive Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rowley, Larry L.; Bowman, Phillip J.

2009-01-01

In this post-industrial global society, parental and student role strains may exacerbate social-ecological risks and academic difficulties of African American male students. Therefore, school-based interventions must ensure rigorous preparation, promote successful navigation of social-ecological risks, and mobilize cultural-ecological strengths to…

Pollinators, pests, and predators: Recognizing ecological trade-offs in agroecosystems.

PubMed

Saunders, Manu E; Peisley, Rebecca K; Rader, Romina; Luck, Gary W

2016-02-01

Ecological interactions between crops and wild animals frequently result in increases or declines in crop yield. Yet, positive and negative interactions have mostly been treated independently, owing partly to disciplinary silos in ecological and agricultural sciences. We advocate a new integrated research paradigm that explicitly recognizes cost-benefit trade-offs among animal activities and acknowledges that these activities occur within social-ecological contexts. Support for this paradigm is presented in an evidence-based conceptual model structured around five evidence statements highlighting emerging trends applicable to sustainable agriculture. The full range of benefits and costs associated with animal activities in agroecosystems cannot be quantified by focusing on single species groups, crops, or systems. Management of productive agroecosystems should sustain cycles of ecological interactions between crops and wild animals, not isolate these cycles from the system. Advancing this paradigm will therefore require integrated studies that determine net returns of animal activity in agroecosystems.

Meeting a Binational Research Challenge: Substance Abuse Among Transnational Mexican Farmworkers in the United States

PubMed Central

Garcia, Victor

2011-01-01

To help in understanding the manner in which community, individual, and other factors in the United States and Mexico contribute to drug use among transnational migrants, this paper introduces a binational social ecology model of substance abuse in this population. We draw on our 2 NIH-funded ethnographic studies—1 on problem drinking and the other on drug abuse—among transnational Mexican workers in the mushroom industry of southeastern Pennsylvania. Our model demonstrates that major reasons for substance abuse among transnational migrants include nontraditional living arrangements in labor camps and overcrowded apartments, the absence of kin and community deterrents to drug use, social isolation, the presence of drug use and binge drinking subcultures, the availability of drugs, family history of drugs, previous drug use or witnessing of drug use in Mexico, and drug use norms and drug availability in Mexico. It suggests the need for US and Mexican researchers to collaborate in binational teams and address factors on both sides of the border. Our binational social ecology model, together with our research recommendations, will assist alcohol and drug researchers to discover how community and individual factors in both the United States and abroad fit and interact beyond mere association and provide a more comprehensive research approach to substance abuse research among transnational migrants. PMID:18237326

The Rapid Benefit Indicators (RBI) Approach: A Process for Assessing the Social Benefits of Ecological Restoration

EPA Science Inventory

Environmental managers face difficult decisions about allocating resources to the most beneficial projects. Focusing solely on ecological outcomes can lead to missed opportunities to provide social benefits, yet few methods exist to easily compare the social benefits of ecologica...

A Cultural-Ecological Model of School Climate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

La Salle, Tamika P.; Meyers, Joel; Varjas, Kristen; Roach, Andrew

2015-01-01

School climate has been established as an important construct to measure because of its connections to student psychological, social, and academic outcomes (Anderson, 1982; Koth, Bradshaw, & Leaf, 2008; Kuperminc, Leadbeater, Emmons, & Blatt, 1997). Prior research has also established relationships between student perceptions of school…

Adolescent Physical Activity: Moderation of Individual Factors by Neighborhood Environment.

PubMed

D'Angelo, Heather; Fowler, Stephanie L; Nebeling, Linda C; Oh, April Y

2017-06-01

Less than a third of U.S. adolescents meet federal physical activity (PA) guidelines. Understanding correlates of PA at multiple levels of the Social Ecological Model could improve PA interventions among youth. This study examines (1) associations between factors across the Social Ecological Model including psychosocial factors, perceived neighborhood physical and social environment characteristics, and adolescent moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) and (2) whether perceived neighborhood characteristics moderate associations between psychosocial factors and MVPA. A national sample of adolescents (aged 12-17 years) in the 2014 Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating Study was used to examine associations between psychosocial characteristics, perceived neighborhood social and physical characteristics, and self-reported weekly minutes of MVPA. Analyses were conducted in 2015. Interaction terms between psychosocial and neighborhood variables were added to multiple linear regression models to examine moderation hypotheses. Significant two-way interactions revealed that neighborhoods with features perceived as supportive of PA strengthened several psychosocial-MVPA associations. The positive associations between MVPA and friend norms, friend support, and attitudes were strengthened for adolescents living in neighborhoods with high versus low PA resource availability (all p<0.05). Furthermore, the association between controlled and autonomous motivation and MVPA was strengthened under conditions of shops/stores near (versus distant from) adolescents' homes (p<0.05). The association between some psychosocial factors and adolescent MVPA may be environment dependent. Neighborhood physical and social environments supportive of PA are important to consider when developing targeted PA interventions and may strengthen the association between psychosocial-level factors and adolescent MVPA. Copyright © 2017 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. All rights reserved.

The Colorado LEAP study: rationale and design of a study to assess the short term longitudinal effectiveness of a preschool nutrition and physical activity program

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The preschool years are a critical window for obesity prevention efforts; representing a time when children establish healthy eating habits and physical activity patterns. Understanding the context in which these behaviors develop is critical to formulating a model to address childhood obesity. The Colorado LEAP Study, an intervention study designed to prevent early childhood obesity, utilizes a social ecological approach to explore individual, family and environmental factors and their relationship to child weight status over a 3 year timeframe. Methods The study is located in 5 rural Colorado preschool centers and elementary schools (2 treatment and 3 control). Treatment sites receive The Food Friends® nutrition (12 weeks) and physical activity (18 weeks) interventions during preschool. Observational measures assess 3 layers of the social ecological model including individual, family and organizational inputs. Children’s food preferences, food intake, gross motor skills, physical activity (pedometers/accelerometers), cognitive, physical and social self-competence and height/weight are collected. Parents provide information on feeding and activity practices, child’s diet, oral sensory characteristics, food neophobia, home food and activity environment, height/weight and physical activity (pedometers). School personnel complete a school environment and policy assessment. Measurements are conducted with 3 cohorts at 4 time points – baseline, post-intervention, 1- and 2-year follow-up. Discussion The design of this study allows for longitudinal exploration of relationships among eating habits, physical activity patterns, and weight status within and across spheres of the social ecological model. These methods advance traditional study designs by allowing not only for interaction among spheres but predictively across time. Further, the recruitment strategy includes both boys and girls from ethnic minority populations in rural areas and will provide insights into obesity prevention effects on these at risk populations. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01937481. PMID:24321701

Poverty, Disease, and the Ecology of Complex Systems

PubMed Central

Pluciński, Mateusz M.; Murray, Megan B.; Farmer, Paul E.; Barrett, Christopher B.; Keenan, Donald C.

2014-01-01

Understanding why some human populations remain persistently poor remains a significant challenge for both the social and natural sciences. The extremely poor are generally reliant on their immediate natural resource base for subsistence and suffer high rates of mortality due to parasitic and infectious diseases. Economists have developed a range of models to explain persistent poverty, often characterized as poverty traps, but these rarely account for complex biophysical processes. In this Essay, we argue that by coupling insights from ecology and economics, we can begin to model and understand the complex dynamics that underlie the generation and maintenance of poverty traps, which can then be used to inform analyses and possible intervention policies. To illustrate the utility of this approach, we present a simple coupled model of infectious diseases and economic growth, where poverty traps emerge from nonlinear relationships determined by the number of pathogens in the system. These nonlinearities are comparable to those often incorporated into poverty trap models in the economics literature, but, importantly, here the mechanism is anchored in core ecological principles. Coupled models of this sort could be usefully developed in many economically important biophysical systems—such as agriculture, fisheries, nutrition, and land use change—to serve as foundations for deeper explorations of how fundamental ecological processes influence structural poverty and economic development. PMID:24690902

Poverty, disease, and the ecology of complex systems.

PubMed

Ngonghala, Calistus N; Pluciński, Mateusz M; Murray, Megan B; Farmer, Paul E; Barrett, Christopher B; Keenan, Donald C; Bonds, Matthew H

2014-04-01

Understanding why some human populations remain persistently poor remains a significant challenge for both the social and natural sciences. The extremely poor are generally reliant on their immediate natural resource base for subsistence and suffer high rates of mortality due to parasitic and infectious diseases. Economists have developed a range of models to explain persistent poverty, often characterized as poverty traps, but these rarely account for complex biophysical processes. In this Essay, we argue that by coupling insights from ecology and economics, we can begin to model and understand the complex dynamics that underlie the generation and maintenance of poverty traps, which can then be used to inform analyses and possible intervention policies. To illustrate the utility of this approach, we present a simple coupled model of infectious diseases and economic growth, where poverty traps emerge from nonlinear relationships determined by the number of pathogens in the system. These nonlinearities are comparable to those often incorporated into poverty trap models in the economics literature, but, importantly, here the mechanism is anchored in core ecological principles. Coupled models of this sort could be usefully developed in many economically important biophysical systems--such as agriculture, fisheries, nutrition, and land use change--to serve as foundations for deeper explorations of how fundamental ecological processes influence structural poverty and economic development.

The political ecology of disaster: an analysis of factors influencing U.S. tornado fatalities and injuries, 1998-2000.

PubMed

Donner, William R

2007-08-01

This study examines casualties from tornadoes in the United States between the years 1998 and 2000. A political model of human ecology (POET) was used to explore how the environment, technology, and social inequality influence rates of fatalities and injuries in two models. Data were drawn from four sources: John Hart's Severe Plot v2.0, National Weather Service (NWS) Warning Verification data, Storm Prediction Center (SPC) watch data, and tract-level census data. Negative binomial regression was used to analyze the causes of tornado fatalities and injuries. Independent variables (following POET) are classified in the following manner: population, organization, environment, and technology. Rural population, population density, and household size correspond to population; racial minorities and deprivation represent social organization; tornado area represents environment; and tornado watches and warnings, as well as mobile homes, correspond to technology. Findings suggest a strong relationship between the size of a tornado path and both fatalities and injuries, whereas other measures related to technology, population, and organization produce significant yet mixed results. Census tracts having larger populations of rural residents was, of the nonenvironmental factors, the most conclusive regarding its effects across the two models. The outcomes of analysis, although not entirely supportive of the model presented in this study, suggest to some degree that demographic and social factors play a role in vulnerability to tornadoes.

[The characteristics of population health in social ecological conditions of the Primorskiĭ Kraĭ].

PubMed

Iarygina, M V; Kiku, P F; Gorborukova, T V; Iudin, S S

2013-01-01

The article presents the results of sociological survey of residents of different bioclimatic zones of urbanized and rural territories of different bioclimatic zones of the Primorsky Kraiy in municipalities with different demographic, ecological and social characteristics. The analysis of survey data using the technique of P.V. Terentiyev correlation pleiades was applied. The relationship was established between a number of such factors as social industrial environment, ecological condition of territory of residence, life-style and climate with population health.

Ecological Interventionist Causal Models in Psychosis: Targeting Psychological Mechanisms in Daily Life

PubMed Central

Reininghaus, Ulrich; Depp, Colin A.; Myin-Germeys, Inez

2016-01-01

Integrated models of psychotic disorders have posited a number of putative psychological mechanisms that may contribute to the development of psychotic symptoms, but it is only recently that a modest amount of experience sampling research has provided evidence on their role in daily life, outside the research laboratory. A number of methodological challenges remain in evaluating specificity of potential causal links between a given psychological mechanism and psychosis outcomes in a systematic fashion, capitalizing on longitudinal data to investigate temporal ordering. In this article, we argue for testing ecological interventionist causal models that draw on real world and real-time delivered, ecological momentary interventions for generating evidence on several causal criteria (association, time order, and direction/sole plausibility) under real-world conditions, while maximizing generalizability to social contexts and experiences in heterogeneous populations. Specifically, this approach tests whether ecological momentary interventions can (1) modify a putative mechanism and (2) produce changes in the mechanism that lead to sustainable changes in intended psychosis outcomes in individuals’ daily lives. Future research using this approach will provide translational evidence on the active ingredients of mobile health and in-person interventions that promote sustained effectiveness of ecological momentary interventions and, thereby, contribute to ongoing efforts that seek to enhance effectiveness of psychological interventions under real-world conditions. PMID:26707864

Investigating the Roles of Neighborhood Environments and Housing-based Social Support in the Relocation of Persons Made Homeless by Hurricane Katrina

PubMed Central

Kloos, Bret; Flory, Kate; Hankin, Benjamin L.; Cheely, Catherine A.; Segal, Michelle

2008-01-01

This study examined whether social support tied to relocation efforts and neighborhood social climate may mediate the effects of stressful life events on mental health outcomes following Hurricane Katrina. Participants were 108 adult persons made homeless by Hurricane Katrina and evacuated to Columbia, SC. Civic leaders developed an intervention model that emphasized (a) a one-stop point of entry, (b) living in hotels and apartments rather than shelters, and (c) matching hotels with volunteer “hosts” to assist in relocation efforts. Results revealed that perceived neighborhood factors and satisfaction with host relationship were related to several mental health outcomes. Neighborhood social climate partially mediated several mental health outcomes. Implications of this intervention model and the utility of social ecological perspectives on homelessness interventions are discussed. PMID:19363774

Social–ecological network analysis of scale mismatches in estuary watershed restoration

PubMed Central

Sayles, Jesse S.

2017-01-01

Resource management boundaries seldom align with environmental systems, which can lead to social and ecological problems. Mapping and analyzing how resource management organizations in different areas collaborate can provide vital information to help overcome such misalignment. Few quantitative approaches exist, however, to analyze social collaborations alongside environmental patterns, especially among local and regional organizations (i.e., in multilevel governance settings). This paper develops and applies such an approach using social–ecological network analysis (SENA), which considers relationships among and between social and ecological units. The framework and methods are shown using an estuary restoration case from Puget Sound, United States. Collaboration patterns and quality are analyzed among local and regional organizations working in hydrologically connected areas. These patterns are correlated with restoration practitioners’ assessments of the productivity of their collaborations to inform network theories for natural resource governance. The SENA is also combined with existing ecological data to jointly consider social and ecological restoration concerns. Results show potentially problematic areas in nearshore environments, where collaboration networks measured by density (percentage of possible network connections) and productivity are weakest. Many areas also have high centralization (a few nodes hold the network together), making network cohesion dependent on key organizations. Although centralization and productivity are inversely related, no clear relationship between density and productivity is observed. This research can help practitioners to identify where governance capacity needs strengthening and jointly consider social and ecological concerns. It advances SENA by developing a multilevel approach to assess social–ecological (or social–environmental) misalignments, also known as scale mismatches. PMID:28223529

Spatial heterogeneity of the relationships between environmental characteristics and active commuting: towards a locally varying social ecological model.

PubMed

Feuillet, Thierry; Charreire, Hélène; Menai, Mehdi; Salze, Paul; Simon, Chantal; Dugas, Julien; Hercberg, Serge; Andreeva, Valentina A; Enaux, Christophe; Weber, Christiane; Oppert, Jean-Michel

2015-03-25

According to the social ecological model of health-related behaviors, it is now well accepted that environmental factors influence habitual physical activity. Most previous studies on physical activity determinants have assumed spatial homogeneity across the study area, i.e. that the association between the environment and physical activity is the same whatever the location. The main novelty of our study was to explore geographical variation in the relationships between active commuting (walking and cycling to/from work) and residential environmental characteristics. 4,164 adults from the ongoing Nutrinet-Santé web-cohort, residing in and around Paris, France, were studied using a geographically weighted Poisson regression (GWPR) model. Objective environmental variables, including both the built and the socio-economic characteristics around the place of residence of individuals, were assessed by GIS-based measures. Perceived environmental factors (index including safety, aesthetics, and pollution) were reported by questionnaires. Our results show that the influence of the overall neighborhood environment appeared to be more pronounced in the suburban southern part of the study area (Val-de-Marne) compared to Paris inner city, whereas more complex patterns were found elsewhere. Active commuting was positively associated with the built environment only in the southern and northeastern parts of the study area, whereas positive associations with the socio-economic environment were found only in some specific locations in the southern and northern parts of the study area. Similar local variations were observed for the perceived environmental variables. These results suggest that: (i) when applied to active commuting, the social ecological conceptual framework should be locally nuanced, and (ii) local rather than global targeting of public health policies might be more efficient in promoting active commuting.

Economy and political ecology perspective of Indonesian food security at South Sulawesi

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fahmid, I. M.; Harun, H.; Fahmid, M. M.; Saadah; Busthanul, N.

2018-05-01

The purposes of this study are: firstly, to demonstrate the relations of agro-ecological function, agricultural innovation system, social-ecological system and political ecology to encourage production for Indonesian Food Security Program (PKP) in South Sulawesi. Secondly, to identify the most influential and interested stakeholders in the success of PKP program. The study conducted by applying an interdisciplinary analysis of triangulation method. The result showed, the success of PKP in South Sulawesi with the achievement of 2 million rice overstock mainly impacted by the application of agro-ecological concept, agricultural innovation system, and political ecology while disregarding the concept of social agroecology.

The "Flavor" of the Social Ecology Paradigm in Use: Building on Mutual Social Support in Preventing Drug Abuse.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thorsheim, Howard I.; Roberts, Bruce B.

The "Bottled Pain" project, a drug abuse prevention program in 24 Lutheran congregations in southern Minnesota, is based on a social ecology paradigm designed to prevent drug abuse through the development of socially supportive relationshps and through using the environment as a natural strength within the community. According to the…

Studying the neurobiology of human social interaction: Making the case for ecological validity.

PubMed

Hogenelst, Koen; Schoevers, Robert A; aan het Rot, Marije

2015-01-01

With this commentary we make the case for an increased focus on the ecological validity of the measures used to assess aspects of human social functioning. Impairments in social functioning are seen in many types of psychopathology, negatively affecting the lives of psychiatric patients and those around them. Yet the neurobiology underlying abnormal social interaction remains unclear. As an example of human social neuroscience research with relevance to biological psychiatry and clinical psychopharmacology, this commentary discusses published experimental studies involving manipulation of the human brain serotonin system that included assessments of social behavior. To date, these studies have mostly been laboratory-based and included computer tasks, observations by others, or single-administration self-report measures. Most laboratory measures used so far inform about the role of serotonin in aspects of social interaction, but the relevance for real-life interaction is often unclear. Few studies have used naturalistic assessments in real life. We suggest several laboratory methods with high ecological validity as well as ecological momentary assessment, which involves intensive repeated measures in naturalistic settings. In sum, this commentary intends to stimulate experimental research on the neurobiology of human social interaction as it occurs in real life.

The evolutionary and ecological consequences of animal social networks: emerging issues.

PubMed

Kurvers, Ralf H J M; Krause, Jens; Croft, Darren P; Wilson, Alexander D M; Wolf, Max

2014-06-01

The first generation of research on animal social networks was primarily aimed at introducing the concept of social networks to the fields of animal behaviour and behavioural ecology. More recently, a diverse body of evidence has shown that social fine structure matters on a broader scale than initially expected, affecting many key ecological and evolutionary processes. Here, we review this development. We discuss the effects of social network structure on evolutionary dynamics (genetic drift, fixation probabilities, and frequency-dependent selection) and social evolution (cooperation and between-individual behavioural differences). We discuss how social network structure can affect important coevolutionary processes (host-pathogen interactions and mutualisms) and population stability. We also discuss the potentially important, but poorly studied, role of social network structure on dispersal and invasion. Throughout, we highlight important areas for future research. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cognitive Socialization and Competence: The Academic Development of Chicanos. Chapter 7.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laosa, Luis M.; Henderson, Ronald W.

This chapter focuses on the innermost level of Bronfenbrenner's four-level conception of the human environmental ecology, namely the microsystem, and more specifically, the child's socialization in the family. Following discussion of concepts related to socialization, competence, and environmental ecology, selected research studies are reviewed to…

Followership in Ecology/Environment Social Movements.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clavner, Jerry B.; Sumodi, Veronica R.

The paper analyzes the failure of the ecology/environmental movement to develop into a social movement and to generate a mass following. The movement has had difficulty not only in organizing collective behavior but also in maintaining the necessary momentum to change into a full-fledged social movement. Obvious reasons are that ecologists…

Environmental security as related to scale mismatches of disturbance patterns in a panarchy of social-ecological landscapes

Treesearch

Giovanni Zurlini; Irene Petrosillo; Nicola Zaccarelli; Kurt Riitters

2008-01-01

Environmental security, as the opposite of environmental fragility (vulnerability), is multilayered, multi-scale and complex, existing in both the objective realm of biophysics and society, and the subjective realm of individual human perception. For ecological risk assessments (ERAs), the relevant objects of environmental security are social-ecological landscapes (...

An exploration of contextual factors that influence HIV risk in female sex workers in Mexico: The Social Ecological Model applied to HIV risk behaviors

PubMed Central

Larios, Sandra E.; Lozada, Remedios; Strathdee, Steffanie A.; Semple, Shirley J.; Roesch, Scott; Staines, Hugo; Orozovich, Prisci; Fraga, Miguel; Amaro, Hortensia; de la Torre, Adela; Magis-Rodríguez, Carlos; Patterson, Thomas L.

2010-01-01

The present study examined the applicability of the Social Ecological Model for explaining condom use in a sample of female sex workers (FSWs) (N=435) participating in a behavioral intervention to increase condom use in Tijuana, Mexico. Using a multi-group path analysis, we compared women who work in bar settings (n=233) to those who worked on the street (n=202) with regard to an individual factor (self efficacy), an interpersonal factor (client financial incentives), and a structural factor (condom access). Competing models showed differential impacts of these factors in the two venue-based groups. Having access to condoms was associated with greater self-efficacy and less unprotected sex in women who worked in bars. Among street-based FSWs, having clients offer monetary incentives for unprotected sex was related to greater unprotected sex while having access to condoms was not. Understanding the contextual factors associated with condom use among subgroups of FSWs has important implications for the development of HIV prevention interventions. PMID:19370470

Effective Ecological Restoration of Collapsed Ecosystems - Linking Soil, Water and Society

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petursdottir, Thorunn; Finger, David

2014-05-01

All natural resources, utilized by humans are embedded in complex social-ecological systems (SESs). To maintain the systems' sustainability, the SESs needs to be managed within their resilience optimum, considering both social and ecological elements. Throughout the centuries the humankind has often failed in doing so. Overexploitation of natural resources has thus widely disrupted equilibrium within the respective SESs, driving unforeseen changes of ecosystems worldwide. Anthropogenic factors such as poor institutional structure on resource utilization and weak policies in combination to environmental factors like droughts, fires or other unpredictable events have ruptured ecosystems' resilience and caused global degradation on a scale that currently threatens the Earth's welfare. As an example it's worth to mention that up to 40% of the world's agricultural land is severely degraded mainly due to unsustainable landuse. Once an ecosystem, or part/s of it, have collapsed, ecological restoration is almost always necessary to overcome the threshold/s that may prevent the system from self-recovering. It also re-activates the system's environmental cycles like the water, carbon and nutrient circulation. Although soil is the fundamental body of terrestrial ecosystems, water availability is of equal importance and should be taken more into consideration in restoration than currently is done. Based on that, we will focus on how to best manage effective large-scale ecological restoration (LSER) of collapsed ecosystems and link it to water catchment areas. LSER is a fundamental social-ecological activity that substantially can improve ecosystem condition, human livelihood and if well organized, facilitate improved management of natural resources. By definition, restoration of ecological integrity and functions is the fundamental basis for all restoration activities. But to achieve long-term sustainability of LSER activities the initial set of rules/policies established by the stakeholders or the government must be congruent with local condition in context to regional, national and even global perspectives. The related parties need to be in agreement to the content of the existing policies related to large-scale restoration and collectively work on achieving their targets. The actors must operate in line with the existing laws and legislation. Furthermore, all the multiple layers of the governance system need to cooperate internally in a transparent and decentralized way on attaining LSER targets; through for instance local restoration projects and improved land management. To assess if the policies are facilitating the expected LSER progress, a monitoring and evaluation system should also be in place. Researches indicate that incoherency within the governance system and lack of social cohesion can significantly reduce the expected outcome of restoration projects. Here we will present an ecological restoration model based on a SES framework that can be used to analyse the SESs the restoration activities will take place within. The model can also be used to organize restoration projects on different scales, to identify potential leverage points or gaps within the SES and to design a tailor-made monitoring and evaluation program.

Exploratory investigation of obesity risk and prevention in Chinese Americans.

PubMed

Liou, Doreen; Bauer, Kathleen D

2007-01-01

To examine the beliefs and attitudes related to obesity risk and its prevention in Chinese Americans via in-depth, qualitative interviews using the guiding tenets of Health Belief Model, Theory of Planned Behavior, and social ecological models. A qualitative study using tenets of the Health Belief Model, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and social ecological models. The New York City metropolitan area. Forty young Chinese American adults (24 females; 16 males) were interviewed. Obesity risk and prevention. Common themes were identified, coded, and compared using NVivo computer software. Poor dietary habits and sedentary lifestyles were seen as major weight gain contributors. Obesity was seen predominantly as a non-Asian phenomenon, although 60% of the participants felt susceptible to obesity. Physical and social environmental factors were the overriding themes generated as to the causes of weight gain among young adult Chinese Americans. Physical factors included the powerful effect of media-generated advertisements and a plethora of inexpensive fast and convenience foods emphasizing large portion sizes of low nutrient density. The social environment encourages the consumption of large quantities of these foods. Traditional Chinese cuisine was seen as providing more healthful alternatives, but increasing acculturation to American lifestyle results in less traditional food consumption. Some traditional Chinese beliefs regarding the desirability of a slightly heavy physique can encourage overeating. Nutrition educators need to be public policy advocates for environments providing tasty, low cost, healthful foods. Young adult Chinese Americans seek knowledge and skills for making convenient healthful food selections in the midst of a culture that advocates and provides an abundance of unhealthy choices.

The Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment: Observing, Understanding, and Predicting Social-Ecological Change in the Far North

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mack, M. C.; Goetz, S. J.; Kasischke, E. S.; Kimball, J. S.; Boelman, N.

2015-12-01

In the high northern latitudes, climate is warming more rapidly than anywhere else on Earth, transforming vulnerable arctic tundra and boreal forest landscapes. These changes are altering the structure and function of energy, water and carbon cycles, producing significant feedbacks to regional and global climate through changes in energy, water and carbon cycles. These changes are also challenging local and global society. At the local level, communities seek to adapt to new social-ecological regimes. At the global level, changing arctic and boreal systems are increasing becoming the focus of policy discussions at all levels of decision-making. National and international scientific efforts associated with a new NASA field campaign, the Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABOVE) will advance our ability to observe, understand and predict the complex, multiscale and non-linear processes that are confronting the natural and social systems in this rapidly changing region. Over the next decade, the newly assembled ABOVE Science Team will pursue this overarching question: "How vulnerable or resilient are ecosystems and society to environmental change in the Arctic and boreal region of western North America?" Through integration of remote sensing and in situ observations with modeling of both ecological and social systems, the ABOVE Science Team will advance an interdisciplinary understanding of the Far North. In this presentation, we will discuss the conceptual basis for the ABOVE Field Campaign, describe Science Team composition and timeline, and update the community on activities. In addition, we will reflect on the visionary role of Dr. Diane Wickland, retired NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program Manager and lead of the Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Focus Area, in the development and commencement of ABOVE.

Managing Small-Scale Commercial Fisheries for Adaptive Capacity: Insights from Dynamic Social-Ecological Drivers of Change in Monterey Bay

PubMed Central

Aguilera, Stacy E.; Cole, Jennifer; Finkbeiner, Elena M.; Le Cornu, Elodie; Ban, Natalie C.; Carr, Mark H.; Cinner, Joshua E.; Crowder, Larry B.; Gelcich, Stefan; Hicks, Christina C.; Kittinger, John N.; Martone, Rebecca; Malone, Daniel; Pomeroy, Carrie; Starr, Richard M.; Seram, Sanah; Zuercher, Rachel; Broad, Kenneth

2015-01-01

Globally, small-scale fisheries are influenced by dynamic climate, governance, and market drivers, which present social and ecological challenges and opportunities. It is difficult to manage fisheries adaptively for fluctuating drivers, except to allow participants to shift effort among multiple fisheries. Adapting to changing conditions allows small-scale fishery participants to survive economic and environmental disturbances and benefit from optimal conditions. This study explores the relative influence of large-scale drivers on shifts in effort and outcomes among three closely linked fisheries in Monterey Bay since the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act of 1976. In this region, Pacific sardine (Sardinops sagax), northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax), and market squid (Loligo opalescens) fisheries comprise a tightly linked system where shifting focus among fisheries is a key element to adaptive capacity and reduced social and ecological vulnerability. Using a cluster analysis of landings, we identify four modes from 1974 to 2012 that are dominated (i.e., a given species accounting for the plurality of landings) by squid, sardine, anchovy, or lack any dominance, and seven points of transition among these periods. This approach enables us to determine which drivers are associated with each mode and each transition. Overall, we show that market and climate drivers are predominantly attributed to dominance transitions. Model selection of external drivers indicates that governance phases, reflected as perceived abundance, dictate long-term outcomes. Our findings suggest that globally, small-scale fishery managers should consider enabling shifts in effort among fisheries and retaining existing flexibility, as adaptive capacity is a critical determinant for social and ecological resilience. PMID:25790464

Social Ecology and Diabetes Self-Management among Pacific Islanders in Arkansas

PubMed Central

McElfish, Pearl Anna; Moore, Ramey; Woodring, David; Purvis, Rachel S.; Maskarinec, Gregory G.; Bing, Williamina Ioanna; Hudson, Jonell; Kohler, Peter O.; Goulden, Peter A.

2017-01-01

Chronic diseases disproportionately affect ethnic and racial minorities. Pacific Islanders, including the Marshallese, experience some of the highest documented rates of type 2 diabetes. Northwest Arkansas is home to the largest population of Marshallese outside of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and many migrants are employed by the local poultry industry. This migrant population continues to increase because of climate change, limited health care and educational infrastructure in the Marshall Islands, and the ongoing health effects of US nuclear testing. The US nuclear weapons testing program had extensive social, economic, and ecological consequences for the Marshallese and many of the health disparities they face are related to the nuclear fallout. Beginning in 2013, researchers using a community-based participatory (CBPR) approach began working with the local Marshallese community to address diabetes through the development and implementation of culturally appropriate diabetes self-management education in a family setting. Preliminary research captured numerous and significant environmental barriers that constrain self-management behaviors. At the request of our CBPR stakeholders, researchers have documented the ecological barriers faced by the Marshallese living in Arkansas through a series of qualitative research projects. Using the Social Ecological Model as a framework, this research provides an analysis of Marshallese health that expands the traditional diabetes self-management perspective. Participants identified barriers at the organizational, community, and policy levels that constrain their efforts to achieve diabetes self-management. We offer practice and policy recommendations to address barriers at the community, organizational, and policy level. PMID:28736764

Social Ecology and Diabetes Self-Management among Pacific Islanders in Arkansas.

PubMed

McElfish, Pearl Anna; Moore, Ramey; Woodring, David; Purvis, Rachel S; Maskarinec, Gregory G; Bing, Williamina Ioanna; Hudson, Jonell; Kohler, Peter O; Goulden, Peter A

2016-01-01

Chronic diseases disproportionately affect ethnic and racial minorities. Pacific Islanders, including the Marshallese, experience some of the highest documented rates of type 2 diabetes. Northwest Arkansas is home to the largest population of Marshallese outside of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and many migrants are employed by the local poultry industry. This migrant population continues to increase because of climate change, limited health care and educational infrastructure in the Marshall Islands, and the ongoing health effects of US nuclear testing. The US nuclear weapons testing program had extensive social, economic, and ecological consequences for the Marshallese and many of the health disparities they face are related to the nuclear fallout. Beginning in 2013, researchers using a community-based participatory (CBPR) approach began working with the local Marshallese community to address diabetes through the development and implementation of culturally appropriate diabetes self-management education in a family setting. Preliminary research captured numerous and significant environmental barriers that constrain self-management behaviors. At the request of our CBPR stakeholders, researchers have documented the ecological barriers faced by the Marshallese living in Arkansas through a series of qualitative research projects. Using the Social Ecological Model as a framework, this research provides an analysis of Marshallese health that expands the traditional diabetes self-management perspective. Participants identified barriers at the organizational, community, and policy levels that constrain their efforts to achieve diabetes self-management. We offer practice and policy recommendations to address barriers at the community, organizational, and policy level.

Social-Emotional Factors Affecting Achievement Outcomes Among Disadvantaged Students: Closing the Achievement Gap.

PubMed

Becker, Bronwyn E; Luthar, Suniya S

2002-01-01

Despite concentrated efforts at improving inferior academic outcomes among disadvantaged students, a substantial achievement gap between the test scores of these students and others remains (Jencks & Phillips, 1998; National Center for Education Statistics, 2000a, 2000b; Valencia & Suzuki, 2000). Existing research used ecological models to document social-emotional factors at multiple levels of influence that undermine academic performance. This article integrates ideas from various perspectives in a comprehensive and interdisciplinary model that will inform policy makers, administrators, and schools about the social-emotional factors that act as both risk and protective factors for disadvantaged students' learning and opportunities for academic success. Four critical social-emotional components that influence achievement performance (academic and school attachment, teacher support, peer values, and mental health) are reviewed.

The Burden of Disaster: Part I. Challenges and Opportunities Within a Child’s Social Ecology

PubMed Central

Noffsinger, Mary A.; Pfefferbaum, Betty; Pfefferbaum, Rose L.; Sherrieb, Kathleen; Norris, Fran H.

2013-01-01

Child development and adaptation are best understood as biological and psychological individual processes occurring within the context of interconnecting groups, systems, and communities which, along with family, constitute the child’s social ecology. This first of two articles describes the challenges and opportunities within a child’s social ecology, consisting of Micro-, Meso-, Exo-, and Macrosystems. The parent-child relationship, the most salient Microsystem influence in children’s lives, plays an influential role in children’s reactions to and recovery from disasters. Children, parents, and other adults participate in Mesosystem activities at schools and faith-based organizations. The Exosystem—including workplaces, spcial agencies, neighborhood, and mass media—directly affects important adults in children’s lives. The Macrosystem affects disaster response and recovery indirectly through intangible cultural, social, economic, and political structures and processes. Children’s responses to adversity occur in the context of these dynamically interconnected and interdependent nested environments, all of which endure the burden of disaster. Increased understanding of the influences of and the relationships between key components contributes to recovery and rebuilding efforts, limiting disruption to the child and his or her social ecology. A companion article (R. L. Pfefferbaum et al., in press) describes interventions across the child’s social ecology. PMID:23156957

A prospective evaluation of first people's health promotion program design in the goulburn-murray rivers region.

PubMed

Doyle, Joyce; Atkinson-Briggs, Sharon; Atkinson, Petah; Firebrace, Bradley; Calleja, Julie; Reilly, Rachel; Cargo, Margaret; Riley, Therese; Crumpen, Tui; Rowley, Kevin

2016-11-10

Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) provide community-focussed and culturally safe services for First Peoples in Australia, including crisis intervention and health promotion activities, in a holistic manner. The ecological model of health promotion goes some way towards describing the complexity of such health programs. The aims of this project were to: 1) identify the aims and purpose of existing health promotion programs conducted by an alliance of ACCOs in northern Victoria, Australia; and 2) evaluate the extent to which these programs are consistent with an ecological model of health promotion, addressing both individual and environmental determinants of health. The project arose from a long history of collaborative research. Three ACCOs and a university formed the Health Promotion Alliance to evaluate their health promotion programs. Local community members were trained in, and contributed to developing culturally sensitive methods for, data collection. Information on the aims and design of 88 health promotion activities making up 12 different programs across the ACCOs was systematically and prospectively collected. There was a wide range of activities addressing environmental and social determinants of health, as well as physical activity, nutrition and weight loss. The design of the great majority of activities had a minimal Western influence and were designed within a local Aboriginal cultural framework. The most common focus of the activities was social connectedness (76 %). Physical activity was represented in two thirds of the activities, and nutrition, weight loss and culture were each a focus of about half of the activities. A modified coding procedure designed to assess the ecological nature of these programs showed that they recruited from multiple settings; targeted a range of individual, social and environmental determinants; and used numerous and innovative strategies to achieve change. First Peoples' health promotion in the Goulburn-Murray Rivers region encompasses a broad range of social, cultural, lifestyle and community development activities, including reclaiming and strengthening cultural identity and social connectedness as a response to colonisation.

Predicting Stress Related to Basic Needs and Safety in Darfur Refugee Camps: A Structural and Social Ecological Analysis

PubMed Central

RASMUSSEN, ANDREW; ANNAN, JEANNIE

2013-01-01

The research on the determinants of mental health among refugees has been largely limited to traumatic events, but recent work has indicated that the daily hassles of living in refugee camps also play a large role. Using hierarchical linear modelling to account for refugees nested within camp blocks, this exploratory study attempted to model stress surrounding safety and acquiring basic needs and functional impairment among refugees from Darfur living in Chad, using individual-level demographics (e.g., gender, age, presence of a debilitating injury), structural factors (e.g., distance from block to distribution centre), and social ecological variables (e.g., percentage of single women within a block). We found that stress concerning safety concerns, daily hassles, and functional impairment were associated with several individual-level demographic factors (e.g., gender), but also with interactions between block-level and individual-level factors as well (e.g., injury and distance to distribution centre). Findings are discussed in terms of monitoring and evaluation of refugee services. PMID:23626407

Predicting Stress Related to Basic Needs and Safety in Darfur Refugee Camps: A Structural and Social Ecological Analysis.

PubMed

Rasmussen, Andrew; Annan, Jeannie

2010-03-01

The research on the determinants of mental health among refugees has been largely limited to traumatic events, but recent work has indicated that the daily hassles of living in refugee camps also play a large role. Using hierarchical linear modelling to account for refugees nested within camp blocks, this exploratory study attempted to model stress surrounding safety and acquiring basic needs and functional impairment among refugees from Darfur living in Chad, using individual-level demographics (e.g., gender, age, presence of a debilitating injury), structural factors (e.g., distance from block to distribution centre), and social ecological variables (e.g., percentage of single women within a block). We found that stress concerning safety concerns, daily hassles, and functional impairment were associated with several individual-level demographic factors (e.g., gender), but also with interactions between block-level and individual-level factors as well (e.g., injury and distance to distribution centre). Findings are discussed in terms of monitoring and evaluation of refugee services.

Developmental Change in Social Responsibility during Adolescence: An Ecological Perspective

PubMed Central

Wray-Lake, Laura; Syvertsen, Amy K.; Flanagan, Constance A.

2015-01-01

Social responsibility can be defined as a set of prosocial values representing personal commitments to contribute to community and society. Little is known about developmental change – and predictors of that change – in social responsibility during adolescence. The present study used an accelerated longitudinal research design to investigate the developmental trajectory of social responsibility values and ecological assets across family, school, community, and peer settings that predict these values. Data come from a three-year study of 3,683 U.S. adolescents enrolled in upper-level elementary, middle school, and high schools in rural, semi-urban, and urban communities. Social responsibility values significantly decreased from age 9 to 16 before leveling off in later adolescence. Family compassion messages and democratic climate, school solidarity, community connectedness, and trusted friendship positively predicted within-person change in adolescents’ social responsibility values. These findings held after accounting for other individual-level and demographic factors and provide support for the role of ecological assets in adolescents’ social responsibility development. In addition, fair society beliefs and volunteer experience had positive between- and within-person associations with social responsibility values. The manuscript discusses theoretical and practical implications of the conclusion that declines in ecological assets may partly explain age-related declines in social responsibility values. PMID:26619322

Developmental change in social responsibility during adolescence: An ecological perspective.

PubMed

Wray-Lake, Laura; Syvertsen, Amy K; Flanagan, Constance A

2016-01-01

Social responsibility can be defined as a set of prosocial values representing personal commitments to contribute to community and society. Little is known about developmental change-and predictors of that change-in social responsibility during adolescence. The present study used an accelerated longitudinal research design to investigate the developmental trajectory of social responsibility values and ecological assets across family, school, community, and peer settings that predict these values. Data come from a 3-year study of 3,683 U.S. adolescents enrolled in upper-level elementary, middle, and high schools in rural, semiurban, and urban communities. Social responsibility values significantly decreased from age 9 to 16 before leveling off in later adolescence. Family compassion messages and democratic climate, school solidarity, community connectedness, and trusted friendship, positively predicted within-person change in adolescents' social responsibility values. These findings held after accounting for other individual-level and demographic factors and provide support for the role of ecological assets in adolescents' social responsibility development. In addition, fair society beliefs and volunteer experience had positive between- and within-person associations with social responsibility values. The manuscript discusses theoretical and practical implications of the conclusion that declines in ecological assets may partly explain age-related declines in social responsibility values. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Conceptualizing and communicating ecological river restoration: Chapter 2

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jacobson, Robert B.; Berkley, Jim

2011-01-01

We present a general conceptual model for communicating aspects of river restoration and management. The model is generic and adaptable to most riverine settings, independent of size. The model has separate categories of natural and social-economic drivers, and management actions are envisioned as modifiers of naturally dynamic systems. The model includes a decision-making structure in which managers, stakeholders, and scientists interact to define management objectives and performance evaluation. The model depicts a stress to the riverine ecosystem as either (1) deviation in the regimes (flow, sediment, temperature, light, biogeochemical, and genetic) by altering the frequency, magnitude, duration, timing, or rate of change of the fluxes or (2) imposition of a hard structural constraint on channel form. Restoration is depicted as naturalization of those regimes or removal of the constraint. The model recognizes the importance of river history in conditioning future responses. Three hierarchical tiers of essential ecosystem characteristics (EECs) illustrate how management actions typically propagate through physical/chemical processes to habitat to biotic responses. Uncertainty and expense in modeling or measuring responses increase in moving from tiers 1 to 3. Social-economic characteristics are shown in a parallel structure that emphasizes the need to quantify trade-offs between ecological and social-economic systems. Performance measures for EECs are also hierarchical, showing that selection of measures depend on participants’ willingness to accept uncertainty. The general form is of an adaptive management loop in which the performance measures are compared to reference conditions or success criteria and the information is fed back into the decision-making process.

Coaching behaviors associated with changes in fear of failure: changes in self-talk and need satisfaction as potential mechanisms.

PubMed

Conroy, David E; Coatsworth, J Douglas

2007-04-01

Cognitive-interpersonal and motivational mechanisms may regulate relations between youth perceptions of interpersonal aspects of the social ecology and their fear-of-failure (FF) levels. Youth (N=165) registered for a summer swim league rated their fear of failure at the beginning, middle, and end of the season. Extensive model comparisons indicated that youths' end-of-season ratings of coach behaviors could be reduced to three factors (affiliation, control, blame). Perceived control and blame from coaches predicted residualized change in corresponding aspects of youths' self-talk, but only changes in self-blame positively predicted changes in FF levels during the season. Perceived affiliation from coaches predicted autonomy need satisfaction which, in turn, negatively predicted the rate of change in FF levels during the season. These findings indicate that (a) youth perceptions of coaches were directly and indirectly related to acute socialization of FF and (b) both cognitive-interpersonal and motivational mechanisms contributed to this socialization process. Further research is needed to test for developmental differences in these mechanisms to determine whether findings generalize to more heterogeneous and at-risk populations and to investigate other potential social-ecological influences on socialization.

How groups cope with collective responsibility for ecological problems: Symbolic coping and collective emotions.

PubMed

Caillaud, Sabine; Bonnot, Virginie; Ratiu, Eugenia; Krauth-Gruber, Silvia

2016-06-01

This study explores the way groups cope with collective responsibility for ecological problems. The social representations approach was adopted, and the collective symbolic coping model was used as a frame of analysis, integrating collective emotions to enhance the understanding of coping processes. The original feature of this study is that the analysis is at group level. Seven focus groups were conducted with French students. An original use of focus groups was proposed: Discussions were structured to induce feelings of collective responsibility and enable observation of how groups cope with such feelings at various levels (social knowledge; social identities; group dynamics). Two analyses were conducted: Qualitative analysis of participants' use of various kinds of knowledge, social categories and the group dynamics, and lexicometric analysis to reveal how emotions varied during the different discussion phases. Results showed that groups' emotional states moved from negative to positive: They used specific social categories and resorted to shared stereotypes to cope with collective responsibility and maintain the integrity of their worldview. Only then did debate become possible again; it was anchored in the nature-culture dichotomy such that groups switched from group-based to system-based emotions. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

Farmers' assessment of the social and ecological values of land uses in central highland Ethiopia.

PubMed

Duguma, Lalisa Alemayehu; Hager, Herbert

2011-05-01

Often in land use evaluations, especially those in developing countries, only the financial aspect receives serious attention, while the social and ecological values are overlooked. This study compared the social and ecological values of four land use types (small-scale woodlot [SSW], boundary tree and shrub planting [BTP], homestead tree and shrub growing [HTG] and cereal farming [CF]) by a criteria-based scoring approach using a bao game. The impacts of local wealth status and proximity to a forest on the value the community renders to the land use types were also assessed. The value comparison, assessed by relative scoring, was accompanied by farmer's explanations to reveal the existing local knowledge about land use values. It was found that HTG ≥ SSW > BTP > CF for both social and ecological values. Though this trend applies for the medium and rich households, the poor ones chose SSW as the most valuable. With increasing distance from a forest, the social and ecological values of land uses increased. The accompanying scoring justifications indicated the existence of in-depth ecological knowledge, which conform to contemporary scientific reports. Generally, this study showed that social and ecological values, besides financial values, strongly influence farmer's decision in implementing various practices related to the land use types. Thus, such values are worth considering for a holistic understanding of the diverse benefits of land uses. Finally, the strong preference for tree and shrub-based land use types is a good opportunity for enhancing tree and shrub growing to minimize the major environmental problems (e.g., soil degradation, wood shortage and deforestation) in the central highlands of Ethiopia.

Farmers' Assessment of the Social and Ecological Values of Land Uses in Central Highland Ethiopia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duguma, Lalisa Alemayehu; Hager, Herbert

2011-05-01

Often in land use evaluations, especially those in developing countries, only the financial aspect receives serious attention, while the social and ecological values are overlooked. This study compared the social and ecological values of four land use types (small-scale woodlot [SSW], boundary tree and shrub planting [BTP], homestead tree and shrub growing [HTG] and cereal farming [CF]) by a criteria-based scoring approach using a bao game. The impacts of local wealth status and proximity to a forest on the value the community renders to the land use types were also assessed. The value comparison, assessed by relative scoring, was accompanied by farmer's explanations to reveal the existing local knowledge about land use values. It was found that HTG ≥ SSW > BTP > CF for both social and ecological values. Though this trend applies for the medium and rich households, the poor ones chose SSW as the most valuable. With increasing distance from a forest, the social and ecological values of land uses increased. The accompanying scoring justifications indicated the existence of in-depth ecological knowledge, which conform to contemporary scientific reports. Generally, this study showed that social and ecological values, besides financial values, strongly influence farmer's decision in implementing various practices related to the land use types. Thus, such values are worth considering for a holistic understanding of the diverse benefits of land uses. Finally, the strong preference for tree and shrub-based land use types is a good opportunity for enhancing tree and shrub growing to minimize the major environmental problems (e.g., soil degradation, wood shortage and deforestation) in the central highlands of Ethiopia.

Culturally induced range infilling of eastern redcedar: a problem in ecology, an ecological problem, or both?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Streit Krug, Aubrey; Uden, Daniel R.; Allen, Craig R.; Twidwell, Dirac

2017-01-01

The philosopher John Passmore distinguished between (1) “problems in ecology,” or what we might call problems in scientific understanding of ecological change, and (2) “ecological problems,” or what we might call problems faced by societies due to ecological change. The spread of eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) and conversion of the central and southern Great Plains of North America to juniper woodland might be categorized as a problem in ecology, an ecological problem, or both. Here, we integrate and apply two interdisciplinary approaches to problem-solving—social-ecological systems thinking and ecocriticism—to understand the role of human culture in recognizing, driving, and responding to cedar’s changing geographic distribution. We interpret the spread of cedar as a process of culturally induced range infilling due to the ongoing social-ecological impacts of colonization, analyze poetic literary texts to clarify the concepts that have so far informed different cultural values related to cedar, and explore the usefulness of diverse interdisciplinary collaborations and knowledge for addressing social-ecological challenges like cedar spread in the midst of rapidly unfolding global change. Our examination suggests that it is not only possible, but preferable, to address cedar spread as both a scientific and a social problem. Great Plains landscapes are teetering between grassland and woodland, and contemporary human societies both influence and choose how to cope with transitions between these ecological states. We echo previous studies in suggesting that human cultural values about stability and disturbance, especially cultural concepts of fire, will be primary driving factors in determining future trajectories of change on the Great Plains. Although invasion-based descriptors of cedar spread may be useful in ecological research and management, language based on the value of restraint could provide a common vocabulary for effective cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary communication about the relationship between culture and cedar, as well as an ethical framework for cross-cultural communication, decision-making, and management.

Social-Ecological Correlates in Adult Autism Outcome Studies: A Scoping Review.

PubMed

Anderson, Kristy A; Roux, Anne M; Kuo, Alice; Shattuck, Paul T

2018-04-01

The transition into adulthood is a critical period in the life course that shapes later outcomes. Many adults on the autism spectrum fare poorly across a wide range of quality of life indicators. Understanding the multilevel factors that influence transition outcomes is necessary to develop strategies that promote better outcomes. In this scoping review, we characterize the use of social-ecological factors in adult autism outcome studies, identify understudied areas of research, and provide recommendations for future research. We conducted a literature search for studies in which the relationship between social-ecological factors and transition outcomes among transition-age youth with autism was assessed. We organized variables used in studies across 5 levels of influence: family-, interpersonal-, institutional-, community-, and policy-level factors. Our findings reveal that both breadth and depth of social-ecological factors usage in autism outcomes studies is limited because of the narrow inclusion of variables across social-ecological levels, the overreliance on a limited number of national data sets, and the overall lack of variation in research design. We propose 9 recommendations to inform the development of multilevel studies. Copyright © 2018 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Ecologic, Economic, and Social Considerations for Rangeland Sustainability: An Integrated Conceptual Framework

Treesearch

Daniel W. McCollum; H. Theodore Jr. Heintz; Aaron J. Harp; John A. Tanaka; Gary R. Evans; David Radloff; Louis E. Swanson; William E. III Fox; Michael G. Sherm Karl; John E. Mitchell

2006-01-01

Use and sustainability of rangelands are inherently linked to the health and sustainability of the land. They are also inherently linked to the social and economic infrastructures that complement and support those rangelands and rangeland uses. Ecological systems and processes provide the biological interactions underlying ecosystem health and viability. Social and...

The Future as Anthropology: Socialism as a Human Ecological Climax.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruyle, Eugene E.

This paper attempts to clarify the Marxian concept of socialism and concludes that social evolution will culminate in a world socialist system. By viewing sociocultural systems from an ecological perspective it is argued that individuals tend to maximize their consumption of labor energy, and minimize their own expenditure of labor energy. This…

Preferential partner selection in an evolutionary study of Prisoner's Dilemma.

PubMed

Ashlock, D; Smucker, M D; Stanley, E A; Tesfatsion, L

1996-01-01

Partner selection is an important process in many social interactions, permitting individuals to decrease the risks associated with cooperation. In large populations, defectors may escape punishment by roving from partner to partner, but defectors in smaller populations risk social isolation. We investigate these possibilities for an evolutionary Prisoner's Dilemma in which agents use expected payoffs to choose and refuse partners. In comparison to random or round-robin partner matching, we find that the average payoffs attained with preferential partner selection tend to be more narrowly confined to a few isolated payoff regions. Most ecologies evolve to essentially full cooperative behavior, but when agents are intolerant of defections, or when the costs of refusal and social isolation are small, we also see the emergence of wallflower ecologies in which all agents are socially isolated. Between these two extremes, we see the emergence of ecologies whose agents tend to engage in a small number of defections followed by cooperation thereafter. The latter ecologies exhibit a plethora of interesting social interaction patterns.

Towards a Moral Ecology of Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancement in British Universities.

PubMed

Vagwala, Meghana Kasturi; Bicquelet, Aude; Didziokaite, Gabija; Coomber, Ross; Corrigan, Oonagh; Singh, Ilina

2017-01-01

Few empirical studies in the UK have examined the complex social patterns and values behind quantitative estimates of the prevalence of pharmacological cognitive enhancement (PCE). We conducted a qualitative investigation of the social dynamics and moral attitudes that shape PCE practices among university students in two major metropolitan areas in the UK. Our thematic analysis of eight focus groups ( n  = 66) suggests a moral ecology that operates within the social infrastructure of the university. We find that PCE resilience among UK university students is mediated by normative and cultural judgments disfavoring competitiveness and prescription drug taking. PCE risk can be augmented by social factors such as soft peer pressure and normalization of enhancement within social and institutional networks. We suggest that moral ecological dynamics should be viewed as key mechanisms of PCE risk and resilience in universities. Effective PCE governance within universities should therefore attend to developing further understanding of the moral ecologies of PCE.

The role of social message using norm abstraction level and ecological value orientation to achieve sustainable consumption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ekasari, A.

2018-01-01

Pro-environmental behavior is one of human activities to achieve sustainability. In order to encourage people to do so, it needs contribution from marketing discipline using social message. The research aims to investigate the effect of social message framed by norm abstraction level and ecological value orientation on attitude and intention to act pro-environmental behavior in the context of littering. This study implemented a 3 (message framing: biospheric/altruistic/egoistic) × 2 (norm abstraction level : abstract/concrete) between subject experimental design to collect the data. An independent sample t test was used to analyze the data. The results indicate that a social message using concrete norm combined with the three ecological value orientation gains more positive response than the use of abstract norm with the same ecological value orientations. Findings of the research are expected to help government or other institutions to create an appropriate social message in anti littering campaign and motivates people to change their behavior in practicing sustainable consumption.

Bringing analysis of gender and social-ecological resilience together in small-scale fisheries research: Challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Kawarazuka, Nozomi; Locke, Catherine; McDougall, Cynthia; Kantor, Paula; Morgan, Miranda

2017-03-01

The demand for gender analysis is now increasingly orthodox in natural resource programming, including that for small-scale fisheries. Whilst the analysis of social-ecological resilience has made valuable contributions to integrating social dimensions into research and policy-making on natural resource management, it has so far demonstrated limited success in effectively integrating considerations of gender equity. This paper reviews the challenges in, and opportunities for, bringing a gender analysis together with social-ecological resilience analysis in the context of small-scale fisheries research in developing countries. We conclude that rather than searching for a single unifying framework for gender and resilience analysis, it will be more effective to pursue a plural solution in which closer engagement is fostered between analysis of gender and social-ecological resilience whilst preserving the strengths of each approach. This approach can make an important contribution to developing a better evidence base for small-scale fisheries management and policy.

Valuing ecological systems and services

PubMed Central

Kubiszewski, Ida; Ervin, David; Bluffstone, Randy; Boyd, James; Brown, Darrell; Chang, Heejun; Dujon, Veronica; Granek, Elise; Polasky, Stephen; Shandas, Vivek; Yeakley, Alan

2011-01-01

Making trade-offs between ecological services and other contributors to human well-being is a difficult but critical process that requires valuation. This allows both better recognition of the ecological, social, and economic trade-offs and also allows us to bill those who use up or destroy ecological services and reward those that produce or enhance them. It also aids improved ecosystems policy. In this paper we clarify some of the controversies in defining the contributions to human well-being from functioning ecosystems, many of which people are not even aware of. We go on to describe the applicability of the various valuation methods that can be used in estimating the benefits of ecosystem services. Finally, we describe some recent case studies and lay out the research agenda for ecosystem services analysis, modeling, and valuation going forward. PMID:21876725

Physical activity in Latinas: social and environmental influences

PubMed Central

Larsen, Britta A; Pekmezi, Dorothy; Marquez, Becky; Benitez, Tanya J; Marcus, Bess H

2013-01-01

Latinas are the largest, fastest growing female ethnic minority group in the USA, and also report the lowest levels of physical activity. Following the framework of the social ecological model, this review examines unique social and environmental factors that influence physical activity in Latinas. Research shows that Latinas receive little social support for activity despite having large, close-knit social networks. Interventions incorporating social support components are generally effcacious. Latinas also face many environmental barriers, including crime, heat, traffic, lack of facilities and a fear of immigration enforcement, and there have been few attempts to address environmental barriers in Latino communities. Successful future interventions will need to consider unique social and environmental barriers affecting Latinas, and help Latinas learn to incorporate social networks into physical activity participation. PMID:23477325

Social-ecological resilience and law in the Platte River Basin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Birge, Hannah E.; Allen, Craig R.; Craig, Robin; Garmestani, Ahjond S.; Hamm, Joseph A.; Babbitt, Christina; Nemec, Kristine T.; Schlager, Edella

2014-01-01

Efficiency and resistance to rapid change are hallmarks of both the judicial and legislative branches of the United States government. These defining characteristics, while bringing stability and predictability, pose challenges when it comes to managing dynamic natural systems. As our understanding of ecosystems improves, we must devise ways to account for the non-linearities and uncertainties rife in complex social-ecological systems. This paper takes an in-depth look at the Platte River basin over time to explore how the system's resilience—the capacity to absorb disturbance without losing defining structures and functions—responds to human driven change. Beginning with pre-European settlement, the paper explores how water laws, policies, and infrastructure influenced the region's ecology and society. While much of the post-European development in the Platte River basin came at a high ecological cost to the system, the recent tri-state and federal collaborative Platte River Recovery and Implementation Program is a first step towards flexible and adaptive management of the social-ecological system. Using the Platte River basin as an example, we make the case that inherent flexibility and adaptability are vital for the next iteration of natural resources management policies affecting stressed basins. We argue that this can be accomplished by nesting policy in a resilience framework, which we describe and attempt to operationalize for use across systems and at different levels of jurisdiction. As our current natural resources policies fail under the weight of looming global change, unprecedented demand for natural resources, and shifting land use, the need for a new generation of adaptive, flexible natural resources govern-ance emerges. Here we offer a prescription for just that, rooted in the social , ecological and political realities of the Platte River basin. Social-Ecological Resilience and Law in the Platte River Basin (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273678974_Social-Ecological_Resilience_and_Law_in_the_Platte_River_Basin [accessed Oct 18 2017].

Origins of Children's Externalizing Behavior Problems in Low-Income Families: Toddlers’ Willing Stance toward their Mothers as the Missing Link

PubMed Central

Kochanska, Grazyna; Kim, Sanghag; Boldt, Lea J.

2013-01-01

Although children's active role in socialization has been long acknowledged, relevant research has typically focused on children's difficult temperament or negative behaviors that elicit coercive and adversarial processes, largely overlooking their capacity to act as positive, willing, even enthusiastic, active socialization agents. We studied the willing, receptive stance toward their mothers in 186 24-44-month-old children in a low-income sample. Confirmatory Factor Analysis supported a latent construct of willing stance, manifested as children's responsiveness to mothers in naturalistic interactions, responsive imitation in teaching contexts, and committed compliance with maternal prohibitions, all observed in the laboratory. Structural Equation Modeling analyses confirmed that ecological adversity undermined maternal responsiveness and responsiveness, in turn, was linked to children's willing stance. A compromised willing stance predicted externalizing behavior problems, assessed 10 months later, and fully mediated the links between maternal responsiveness and those outcomes. Ecological adversity had a direct, unmediated effect on internalizing behavior problems. Considering children's active role as willing, receptive agents capable of embracing parental influence can lead to a more complete understanding of detrimental mechanisms that link ecological adversity with antisocial developmental pathways. It can also inform research on the normative socialization process, consistent with the objectives of developmental psychopathology. PMID:24229537

Recent social and biogeophysical changes in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna, Mekong, and Amazon deltas as inputs into evolutionary policy-making.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Araujo Barbosa, C. C.; Hossain, S.; Szabo, S.; Matthews, Z.; Heard, S.; Dearing, J.

2014-12-01

Policy-making in social-ecological systems increasingly looks to iterative, evolutionary approaches that can address the inherent complexity of interactions between human wellbeing, agricultural and aquacultural production, and ecosystem services. Here we show how an analysis of available time-series in delta regions over past decades can provide important insight into the social-ecological system dynamics that result from the complexity. The presentation summarises the recent changes for major elements of each social-ecological system, for example demography, economy, health, climate, food, and water. Time-series data from official statistics, monitoring programmes and sequential satellite imagery are analysed to define the range of trends, the presence of change points, slow and fast variables, and the significant drivers of change. For example, in the Bangladesh delta zone, increasing gross domestic product and per capita income levels since the 1980s mirror rising levels of food and inland fish production. In contrast, non-food ecosystem services such as water availability, water quality and land stability have deteriorated. As a result, poverty alleviation is associated with environmental degradation. Trends in indicators of human wellbeing and ecosystem services point to widespread non-stationary dynamics governed by slowly changing variables with increased probability of systemic threshold changes/tipping points in the near future. We conclude by examining how the findings could feed into new management tools, such as system dynamic models and assessments of safe operating spaces. Such tools have the potential to help create policies that deliver alternative and sustainable paths for land management while accommodating social and environmental change.

Prevention of violence against women and girls: lessons from practice.

PubMed

Michau, Lori; Horn, Jessica; Bank, Amy; Dutt, Mallika; Zimmerman, Cathy

2015-04-25

This Series paper describes programming to prevent violence against women and girls, and emphasises the importance of systematic, sustained programming across the social ecology (ie, the delicate equilibrium of interacting social, institutional, cultural, and political contexts of people's lives) to transform gender-power inequalities. Effective prevention policy and programming is founded on five core principles: first, analysis and actions to prevent violence across the social ecology (individual, interpersonal, community, and societal); second, intervention designs based on an intersectional gender-power analysis; third, theory-informed models developed on the basis of evidence; fourth, sustained investment in multisector interventions; and finally, aspirational programming that promotes personal and collective thought, and enables activism on women's and girls' rights to violence-free lives. Prevention programming of the future will depend on all of us having a vision of, and a commitment to, gender equality to make violence-free lives for women and girls a reality. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Insights into social insects from the genome of the honeybee Apis mellifera

PubMed Central

2007-01-01

Here we report the genome sequence of the honeybee Apis mellifera, a key model for social behaviour and essential to global ecology through pollination. Compared with other sequenced insect genomes, the A. mellifera genome has high A+T and CpG contents, lacks major transposon families, evolves more slowly, and is more similar to vertebrates for circadian rhythm, RNA interference and DNA methylation genes, among others. Furthermore, A. mellifera has fewer genes for innate immunity, detoxification enzymes, cuticle-forming proteins and gustatory receptors, more genes for odorant receptors, and novel genes for nectar and pollen utilization, consistent with its ecology and social organization. Compared to Drosophila, genes in early developmental pathways differ in Apis, whereas similarities exist for functions that differ markedly, such as sex determination, brain function and behaviour. Population genetics suggests a novel African origin for the species A. mellifera and insights into whether Africanized bees spread throughout the New World via hybridization or displacement. PMID:17073008

Scrounging by foragers can resolve the paradox of enrichment

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Theoretical models of predator–prey systems predict that sufficient enrichment of prey can generate large amplitude limit cycles, paradoxically causing a high risk of extinction (the paradox of enrichment). Although real ecological communities contain many gregarious species, whose foraging behaviour should be influenced by socially transmitted information, few theoretical studies have examined the possibility that social foraging might resolve this paradox. I considered a predator population in which individuals play the producer–scrounger foraging game in one-prey-one-predator and two-prey-one-predator systems. I analysed the stability of a coexisting equilibrium point in the one-prey system and that of non-equilibrium dynamics in the two-prey system. The results revealed that social foraging could stabilize both systems, and thereby resolve the paradox of enrichment when scrounging behaviour (i.e. kleptoparasitism) is prevalent in predators. This suggests a previously neglected mechanism underlying a powerful effect of group-living animals on the sustainability of ecological communities. PMID:28405371

Cognitive Modeling for Agent-Based Simulation of Child Maltreatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Xiaolin; Puddy, Richard

This paper extends previous work to develop cognitive modeling for agent-based simulation of child maltreatment (CM). The developed model is inspired from parental efficacy, parenting stress, and the theory of planned behavior. It provides an explanatory, process-oriented model of CM and incorporates causality relationship and feedback loops from different factors in the social ecology in order for simulating the dynamics of CM. We describe the model and present simulation results to demonstrate the features of this model.

Unraveling Underachievement among African American Boys from an Identification with Academics Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osborne, Jason W.

1999-01-01

Reviews three prominent theories addressing social and cultural factors that can inhibit academic excellence among African American boys: Steele's stereotype threat model; Ogbu's cultural-ecological perspective; and Majors and Billson's "cool pose" theory. All three emphasize barriers preventing these boys from incorporating academics…

Power differentials in bullying: individuals in a community context.

PubMed

Schumann, Lyndall; Craig, Wendy; Rosu, Andrei

2014-03-01

Central to the definition of bullying is the abuse of power. Power relationships are inherent in social groups, by virtue of differing size, strength, age, socioeconomic status (SES), or social connectedness of individuals. Beyond the influence of these individual characteristics, environmental factors have the potential to affect the power dynamic in bullying and victimization, but are a relatively unexplored research area. In particular, we know little about how the community-level factors relate to bullying in the adolescent population. The present study is guided by a social ecological perspective to gain a deeper understanding of the individual and built community characteristics (e.g., parks, recreational spaces, buildings that facilitate social interaction and community connectedness) that contribute to the power dynamics related to victimization or bullying in traditional and electronic contexts. Data were collected from 17,777 students in Grades 6 to 10 as part of the 2009/2010 Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) Survey, from Geographical Information Systems (GIS) data, and from 2006 Canadian Census data. Two nested models were run using HLM with age, gender, ethnicity, SES, social inclusion factors (e.g., collective efficacy), and community resource factors (e.g., access to recreation) as predictors. Characteristics of individuals that placed them at a power disadvantage (being younger, female, and having low SES) were linked to higher rates of victimization. Lower individual collective efficacy was also associated with higher rates of traditional and electronic victimization. Community recreational opportunities were associated with decreased victimization in both contexts. The relative importance of individual and built environmental factors and conceptualization of bullying interactions within a social ecology model are discussed.

Extracurricular activity participation moderates impact of family and school factors on adolescents' disruptive behavioural problems.

PubMed

Driessens, Corine M E F

2015-11-11

The prevalence of problem behaviours among British adolescents has increased in the past decades. Following Erikson's psychosocial developmental theory and Bronfenbrenner's developmental ecological model, it was hypothesized that youth problem behaviour is shaped in part by social environment. The aim of this project was to explore potential protective factors within the social environment of British youth's for the presentation of disruptive behavioural problems. This study used secondary data from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England, a cohort study of secondary school students. These data were analysed with generalized estimation equations to take the correlation between the longitudinal observations into account. Three models were built. The first model determined the effect of family, school, and extracurricular setting on presentation of disruptive behavioural problems. The second model expanded the first model by assuming extracurricular activities as protective factors that moderated the interaction between family and school factors with disruptive behavioural problems. The third model described the effect of prior disruptive behaviour on current disruptive behaviour. Associations were found between school factors, family factors, involvement in extracurricular activities and presence of disruptive behavioural problems. Results from the second generalized estimating equation (GEE) logistic regression models indicated that extracurricular activities buffered the impact of school and family factors on the presence of disruptive behavioural problems. For instance, participation in sports activities decreased the effect of bullying on psychological distress. Results from the third model indicated that prior acts of disruptive behaviour reinforced current disruptive behaviour. This study supports Erikson's psychosocial developmental theory and Bronfenbrenner's developmental ecological model; social environment did influence the presence of disruptive behavioural problems for British adolescents. The potential of extracurricular activities to intervention strategies addressing disruptive behavioural problems of adolescents is discussed.

Transformative governance of urban social-ecological systems

EPA Science Inventory

A central aspect of adaptive governance is a learning process that can help communities achieve environmental objectives. Adaptive governance is a framework for managing social-ecological systems, and is the precursor to transformative governance. Adaptive governance accounts for...

Toward a social-ecological theory of forest macrosystems for improved ecosystem management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kleindl, William J.; Stoy, Paul C.; Binford, Michael W.; Desai, Ankur R.; Dietze, Michael C.; Schultz, Courtney A.; Starr, Gregory; Staudhammer, Christina; Wood, David J. A.

2018-01-01

The implications of cumulative land-use decisions and shifting climate on forests, require us to integrate our understanding of ecosystems, markets, policy, and resource management into a social-ecological system. Humans play a central role in macrosystem dynamics, which complicates ecological theories that do not explicitly include human interactions. These dynamics also impact ecological services and related markets, which challenges economic theory. Here, we use two forest macroscale management initiatives to develop a theoretical understanding of how management interacts with ecological functions and services at these scales and how the multiple large-scale management goals work either in consort or conflict with other forest functions and services. We suggest that calling upon theories developed for organismal ecology, ecosystem ecology, and ecological economics adds to our understanding of social-ecological macrosystems. To initiate progress, we propose future research questions to add rigor to macrosystem-scale studies: (1) What are the ecosystem functions that operate at macroscales, their necessary structural components, and how do we observe them? (2) How do systems at one scale respond if altered at another scale? (3) How do we both effectively measure these components and interactions, and communicate that information in a meaningful manner for policy and management across different scales?

Transformative environmental governance

USGS Publications Warehouse

Chaffin, Brian C.; Garmestani, Ahjond S.; Gunderson, Lance H.; Harm Benson, Melinda; Angeler, David G.; Arnold, Craig Anthony (Tony); Cosens, Barbara; Kundis Craig, Robin; Ruhl, J.B.; Allen, Craig R.

2016-01-01

Transformative governance is an approach to environmental governance that has the capacity to respond to, manage, and trigger regime shifts in coupled social-ecological systems (SESs) at multiple scales. The goal of transformative governance is to actively shift degraded SESs to alternative, more desirable, or more functional regimes by altering the structures and processes that define the system. Transformative governance is rooted in ecological theories to explain cross-scale dynamics in complex systems, as well as social theories of change, innovation, and technological transformation. Similar to adaptive governance, transformative governance involves a broad set of governance components, but requires additional capacity to foster new social-ecological regimes including increased risk tolerance, significant systemic investment, and restructured economies and power relations. Transformative governance has the potential to actively respond to regime shifts triggered by climate change, and thus future research should focus on identifying system drivers and leading indicators associated with social-ecological thresholds.

Social-Ecological Changes in a Quilombola Community in the Atlantic Forest of Southeastern Brazil.

PubMed

Thorkildsen, Kjersti

2014-01-01

Through a combined adaptive cycle and political ecology approach, this article explores how the Afro-Brazilian Quilombolas of Bombas, living inside the protected area of PETAR, respond to and shape social-ecological changes in the Atlantic Forest. Field data reveal that both environmental restrictions and social policies of state transfer payments and food packages have contributed to decreased engagement in agricultural practices, loss of traditional knowledge, and reduced agro-biodiversity. The claim to land rights based on a Quilombola identity and recent negotiations with forest authorities insinuate a shift of this trend. Contrary to dominant conservation narratives, the findings indicate that small-scale shifting cultivation practices by the Quilombolas have the potential to increase structural ecological complexity of the Atlantic Forest. The article therefore argues that legalization of settlement and subsistence activities is important not only for livelihood security and social cohesion of Bombas inhabitants, but also possibly for biodiversity conservation.

Socio-Ecohydrologic Agents And Services: Integrating Human And Natural Components To Address Coupled System Resilience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pavao-zuckerman, M.; Pope, A.; Chan, D.; Curl, K.; Gimblett, H. R.; Hough, M.; House-Peters, L.; Lee, R.; Scott, C. A.

2012-12-01

Riparian corridors in arid regions are highly valued for their relative scarcity, and because healthy riparian systems support high levels of biodiversity, can meet human demand for water and water-related resources and functions. Our team is taking a transdiciplinary social-ecological systems approach to assessing riparian corridor resilience in two watersheds (the San Pedro River in USA and Mexico, and the Rio San Miguel in Mexico) through a project funded by the NSF CNH program ("Strengthening Resilience of Arid Region Riparian Corridors"). Multiple perspectives are integrated in the project, including hydrology, ecology, institutional dynamics, and decision making (at the level of both policy and individual choice), as well as the perspectives of various stakeholder groups and individuals in the watersheds. Here we discuss initial findings that center around linking changes in ecohydrology and livelihoods related to decisions in response to climatic, ecological, and social change. The research team is implementing two approaches to integrate the disparate disciplines participating in the research (and the varied perspectives among the stakeholders in this binational riparian context): (1) ecosystem service assessment, and (2) agent based model simulation. We are developing an ecosystem service perspective that provides a bridge between ecological dynamics in the landscape and varied stakeholder perspectives on the implications of ecohydrology for well-being (economic, cultural, ecological). Services are linked on one hand to the spatial patterns of traits of individuals within species (allowing a more predictive application of ecosystem services as they vary with community change in time), and to stakeholder perspectives (facilitating integration of ecosystem services into our understanding of decision making processes) in a case study in the San Pedro River National Conservation Area. The agent- based model (ABM) approach incorporates the influence of human decision-making on spatially-explicit landscapes in a mechanistic way, taking into account social interaction, adaptation, and decision-making at different levels, allowing individual stakeholders to make decisions based on their unique perceptions of their environment, be it economic, social, or ecological awareness. Initial parameterization of the ABM proceeds from a case study centered in the town of Rayón, Sonora, Mexico, where semi-structured interviews were used to elicit perceptions by water resource users of CNH function, change, and solutions relating to livelihood changes in response to several drivers. In both case studies, we see the potential and limitations for an approach to adaptive management and decision support related to water resources that links ecosystem services and agent-based modeling. Methodologically, synthetic approaches such as these may allow coupling of systems for improved assessment and analysis, while at the same time lack a connection to the perspectives of water users and managers on the ground. There is thus potential for a either a loss of system resilience in the face of external change, or an opportunity to increase system resilience by building off perspectives already in place within these coupled socio-ecohydrologic systems.

Does the Social Functioning Scale reflect real-life social functioning? An experience sampling study in patients with a non-affective psychotic disorder and healthy control individuals.

PubMed

Schneider, M; Reininghaus, U; van Nierop, M; Janssens, M; Myin-Germeys, I

2017-12-01

The ecological validity of retrospective measures of social functioning is currently unknown in patients with schizophrenia. In the present study, patients with a diagnosis of non-affective psychosis were compared with controls on two measures of social functioning: the Social Functioning Scale (SFS) and daily-life measures collected with the Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM). The associations between both measures were examined in each group of participants to test for the ecological validity of the SFS. A total of 126 participants with a non-affective psychotic disorder and 109 controls completed the SFS and a 6-day momentary ESM protocol assessing various aspects of social functioning. Multiple linear and multilevel regression analyses were performed to test for group differences in social functioning level and examine associations between the two assessment techniques. Lower social functioning was observed in patients compared with controls on retrospective and momentary measures. The SFS interpersonal domain (social engagement/withdrawal and interpersonal behaviour dimensions) was associated with the percentage of time spent alone and negative appraisal of social interactions. The SFS activity domain (pro-social and recreational activities dimensions) was negatively associated with time spent in leisure activities. The SFS showed some degree of ecological validity at assessing broad aspects of social functioning. Low scores on the SFS social engagement/withdrawal and interpersonal behaviour dimensions captured social isolation and social avoidance in daily life, but not lack of interest in socializing. Ecological validity of the SFS activity domain was low. ESM offers a rich alternative to classical assessment techniques of social functioning.

Density dependence in group dynamics of a highly social mongoose, Suricata suricatta.

PubMed

Bateman, Andrew W; Ozgul, Arpat; Coulson, Tim; Clutton-Brock, Tim H

2012-05-01

1. For social species, the link between individual behaviour and population dynamics is mediated by group-level demography. 2. Populations of obligate cooperative breeders are structured into social groups, which may be subject to inverse density dependence (Allee effects) that result from a dependence on conspecific helpers, but evidence for population-wide Allee effects is rare. 3. We use field data from a long-term study of cooperative meerkats (Suricata suricatta; Schreber, 1776) - a species for which local Allee effects are not reflected in population-level dynamics - to empirically model interannual group dynamics. 4. Using phenomenological population models, modified to incorporate environmental conditions and potential Allee effects, we first investigate overall patterns of group dynamics and find support only for conventional density dependence that increases after years of low rainfall. 5. To explain the observed patterns, we examine specific demographic rates and assess their contributions to overall group dynamics. Although per-capita meerkat mortality is subject to a component Allee effect, it contributes relatively little to observed variation in group dynamics, and other (conventionally density dependent) demographic rates - especially emigration - govern group dynamics. 6. Our findings highlight the need to consider demographic processes and density dependence in subpopulations before drawing conclusions about how behaviour affects population processes in socially complex systems. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2011 British Ecological Society.

Applying the Social Ecological Model and Theory of Self-Efficacy in the Worksite Heart Health Improvement Project-PLUS.

PubMed

Doran, Kelly; Resnick, Barbara; Kim, Natalie; Lynn, Donna; McCormick, Tyrell

2017-02-01

Long-term care (LTC) employees are at high risk for cardiovascular disease. Despite the documented benefits of worksite health promotion (WHP) programs for employees and employers and the potential benefits to residents in LTC facilities, LTC employees are rarely offered WHP programs. The purpose of the intervention described in this article is to reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors among LTC workers using a physical activity, nutrition, and stress management WHP implemented during paid work time with 98 LTC staff members. This article describes a 9-month physical activity, nutrition, and stress management WHP intervention delivered during paid work time to reduce the cardiovascular disease risk of employees working in LTC. The intervention is rooted in the social ecological model and social cognitive theory. The intervention is based on formative research and evidence-based practice recommendations and is specifically designed to reduce barriers to intervention participation (e.g., inconsistent break times and unpredictable resident care needs) and enhance motivators to program participation (e.g., enhanced social support). The intervention is ongoing, but measures are described. As more employers offer WHP programs, it is important that programs are tailored to meet specific employee groups and work environments. This article operationalizes a WHP research protocol with LTC employees that can be applied to reduce cardiovascular disease risk in LTC employees or similar employee groups in similar work environments.

Vulnerability and risk of deltaic social-ecological systems exposed to multiple hazards.

PubMed

Hagenlocher, Michael; Renaud, Fabrice G; Haas, Susanne; Sebesvari, Zita

2018-08-01

Coastal river deltas are hotspots of global change impacts. Sustainable delta futures are increasingly threatened due to rising hazard exposure combined with high vulnerabilities of deltaic social-ecological systems. While the need for integrated multi-hazard approaches has been clearly articulated, studies on vulnerability and risk in deltas either focus on local case studies or single hazards and do not apply a social-ecological systems perspective. As a result, vulnerabilities and risks in areas with strong social and ecological coupling, such as coastal deltas, are not fully understood and the identification of risk reduction and adaptation strategies are often based on incomplete assumptions. To overcome these limitations, we propose an innovative modular indicator library-based approach for the assessment of multi-hazard risk of social-ecological systems across and within coastal deltas globally, and apply it to the Amazon, Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM), and Mekong deltas. Results show that multi-hazard risk is highest in the GBM delta and lowest in the Amazon delta. The analysis reveals major differences between social and environmental vulnerability across the three deltas, notably in the Mekong and the GBM deltas where environmental vulnerability is significantly higher than social vulnerability. Hotspots and drivers of risk vary spatially, thus calling for spatially targeted risk reduction and adaptation strategies within the deltas. Ecosystems have been identified as both an important element at risk as well as an entry point for risk reduction and adaptation strategies. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Ethical, social, and cultural issues related to clinical genetic testing and counseling in low- and middle-income countries: protocol for a systematic review.

PubMed

Zhong, Adrina; Darren, Benedict; Dimaras, Helen

2017-07-11

There has been little focus in the literature on how to build genetic testing and counseling services in low- and middle-income countries in a responsible, ethical, and culturally appropriate manner. It is unclear to what extent this area is being explored and what form further research should take. The proposed knowledge synthesis aims to fill this gap in knowledge and mine the existing data to determine the breadth of work in this area and identify ethical, social, and cultural issues that have emerged. An integrated knowledge translation approach will be undertaken by engaging knowledge users throughout the review to ensure relevance to their practice. Electronic databases encompassing various disciplines, such as healthcare, social sciences, and public health, will be searched. Studies that address clinical genetic testing and/or counseling and ethical, social, and/or cultural issues of these genetic services, and are performed in low- and middle-income countries as defined by World Bank will be considered for inclusion. Two independent reviewers will be involved in a two-stage literature screening process, data extraction, and quality appraisal. Studies included in the review will be analyzed by thematic analysis. A narrative synthesis guided by the social ecological model will be used to summarize findings. This systematic review will provide a foundation of evidence regarding ethical, social, and cultural issues related to clinical genetic testing and counseling in low- and middle-income countries. Using the social ecological model as a conceptual framework will facilitate the understanding of broader influences of the sociocultural context on an individual's experience with clinical genetic testing and counseling, thereby informing interdisciplinary sectors in future recommendations for practice and policy. PROSPERO CRD42016042894.

Life satisfaction in early adolescence: personal, neighborhood, school, family, and peer influences.

PubMed

Oberle, Eva; Schonert-Reichl, Kimberly A; Zumbo, Bruno D

2011-07-01

Drawing from an ecological assets framework as well as research and theory on positive youth development, this study examined the relationship of early adolescents' satisfaction with life to trait optimism and assets representing the social contexts in which early adolescents spend most of their time. Self-reports of satisfaction with life, optimism, and ecological assets in the school (school connectedness), neighborhood (perceived neighborhood support), family (perceived parental support), and peer group (positive peer relationships) were assessed in a sample of 1,402 4th to 7th graders (47% female) from 25 public elementary schools. Multilevel modeling (MLM) was conducted to analyze the variability in life satisfaction both at the individual and the school level. As hypothesized, adding optimism and the dimensions representing the ecology of early adolescence to the model significantly reduced the variability in life satisfaction at both levels of analysis. Both personal (optimism) and all of the ecological assets significantly and positively predicted early adolescents' life satisfaction. The results suggest the theoretical and practical utility of an assets approach for understanding life satisfaction in early adolescence.

Social interactions among grazing reef fish drive material flux in a coral reef ecosystem.

PubMed

Gil, Michael A; Hein, Andrew M

2017-05-02

In human financial and social systems, exchanges of information among individuals cause speculative bubbles, behavioral cascades, and other correlated actions that profoundly influence system-level function. Exchanges of information are also widespread in ecological systems, but their effects on ecosystem-level processes are largely unknown. Herbivory is a critical ecological process in coral reefs, where diverse assemblages of fish maintain reef health by controlling the abundance of algae. Here, we show that social interactions have a major effect on fish grazing rates in a reef ecosystem. We combined a system for observing and manipulating large foraging areas in a coral reef with a class of dynamical decision-making models to reveal that reef fish use information about the density and actions of nearby fish to decide when to feed on algae and when to flee foraging areas. This "behavioral coupling" causes bursts of feeding activity that account for up to 68% of the fish community's consumption of algae. Moreover, correlations in fish behavior induce a feedback, whereby each fish spends less time feeding when fewer fish are present, suggesting that reducing fish stocks may not only reduce total algal consumption but could decrease the amount of algae each remaining fish consumes. Our results demonstrate that social interactions among consumers can have a dominant effect on the flux of energy and materials through ecosystems, and our methodology paves the way for rigorous in situ measurements of the behavioral rules that underlie ecological rates in other natural systems.

Evolutionary accounts of human behavioural diversity

PubMed Central

Brown, Gillian R.; Dickins, Thomas E.; Sear, Rebecca; Laland, Kevin N.

2011-01-01

Human beings persist in an extraordinary range of ecological settings, in the process exhibiting enormous behavioural diversity, both within and between populations. People vary in their social, mating and parental behaviour and have diverse and elaborate beliefs, traditions, norms and institutions. The aim of this theme issue is to ask whether, and how, evolutionary theory can help us to understand this diversity. In this introductory article, we provide a background to the debate surrounding how best to understand behavioural diversity using evolutionary models of human behaviour. In particular, we examine how diversity has been viewed by the main subdisciplines within the human evolutionary behavioural sciences, focusing in particular on the human behavioural ecology, evolutionary psychology and cultural evolution approaches. In addition to differences in focus and methodology, these subdisciplines have traditionally varied in the emphasis placed on human universals, ecological factors and socially learned behaviour, and on how they have addressed the issue of genetic variation. We reaffirm that evolutionary theory provides an essential framework for understanding behavioural diversity within and between human populations, but argue that greater integration between the subfields is critical to developing a satisfactory understanding of diversity. PMID:21199836

Modelling consequences of change in biodiversity and ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This chapter offers an assessment of the rapidly changing landscape of methods assessing and forecasting the benefits that people receive from nature and how these benefits are shaped by institutions and various anthropogenic assets. There has been an explosion of activity in understanding and modeling the benefits that people receive from nature, and this explosion has provided a diversity of approaches that are both complementary and contradictory. However, there remain major gaps in what current models can do. They are not well suited to estimate most types of benefits at national, regional, or global scales. they are focused on decision analysis, but have not focused on implementation, learning, or dialogue. This hap in particular means that current models are not well suited to bridging among multiple knowledge systems, however, there are initial efforts made towards this goal. Furthermore, while participatory social-ecological scenarios are able to bridge multiple knowledge systems in their assessment and analysis of multiple ecosystem series, the social-ecological scenarios community is fragmented and not well connected. Consequently, IPBES has an excellent knowledge base to build upon, but a real investment in building a more integrated modeling and scenarios community of practice is needed to produce a more complete and useful toolbox of approaches to meet the needs of IPBES assessment and other assessment of nature benefits. This Chapter describes

Exploring the safe and just operating space in an inhomogeneous world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barfuss, Wolfram; Beronov, Boyan; Wiedermann, Marc; Donges, Jonathan

2015-04-01

The Anthropocene has become reality during the 20th century, implying that our species is pressuring the Earth's ecosystems on a global scale. In the meantime, the challenge of eradicating poverty has not yet ceased to exist. Effectively dealing with these issues requires us to better understand the driving forces, feedback loops and tipping elements in the whole Earth system, constituted by natural and social components. To take a step forward in this direction, we refine an existing conceptual coevolutionary model of social and ecological domains (COPAN:EXPLOIT) by introducing inhomogeneities in the properties of local renewable resource stocks that are abstracted from real-world data. We then propose an analytical framework, 'the safe and just space'- plot, which aligns with the current debate on how to simultaneously stay within planetary boundaries (Rockström et al., 2009) and at the same time ensure that social foundations are met (Raworth, 2012). This plot presents a practical tool for jointly studying global socio-ecological models as well as real-world observations. First results from comparing the model outputs with real-world data indicate that the current state of the world is neither particularly safe nor particularly just. References: Rockström, Johan, et al. "A safe operating space for humanity." Nature 461.7263 (2009): 472-475. Raworth, Kate. "A safe and just space for humanity: can we live within the doughnut?" Oxfam Discussion Papers (2012): 1-26.

CIVIC STORMWATER GARDENS: AN ECOLOGICAL SOLUTION FOR CITIES WITH CSOS

EPA Science Inventory

Phase I will research and test the social, economic and environmental sustainability of civic stormwater gardens that reduce CSO events and purify runoff on a site in Lowell, MA. The conclusions will serve as a model for later project phases and for improving public perceptio...

The Evolution of Social and Semantic Networks in Epistemic Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Margolin, Drew Berkley

2012-01-01

This study describes and tests a model of scientific inquiry as an evolving, organizational phenomenon. Arguments are derived from organizational ecology and evolutionary theory. The empirical subject of study is an "epistemic community" of scientists publishing on a research topic in physics: the string theoretic concept of…

Social Studies: Cities in Crisis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faulkner, Brenda F.

This elective quinmester program for grades 10 through 12 focuses upon the study of urban problems. Students analyze city problems taking into consideration ecology, city planning, model cities, and other factors in an attempt to provide creative solutions. The course is arranged into seven sections. Student activities are to: 1) discuss the…

Middle School Physical Education Teachers' Perspectives on Overweight Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doolittle, Sarah A.; Rukavina, Paul B.; Li, Weidong; Manson, Mara; Beale, Angela

2016-01-01

Using the Social Ecological Constraints model, a qualitative multiple case study design was used to explore experienced and committed middle school physical education teachers' perspectives on overweight and obese students (OWS), and how and why they acted to include OWS in physical education and physical activity opportunities in their school…

Transdisciplinary, Multilevel Action Research to Enhance Ecological and Psychopolitical Validity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christens, Brian; Perkins, Douglas D.

2008-01-01

The authors explore the implications of recent proposals for a focus on power and social change in community psychology research and add needed contextual and methodological specificity. An expanded model of psychopolitical validity is presented that merges Isaac Prilleltensky's (this issue, pp. 116-136) domains, or stages of empowerment…

Multinational Corporations, Democracy and Child Mortality: A Quantitative, Cross-National Analysis of Developing Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shandra, John M.; Nobles, Jenna E.; London, Bruce; Williamson, John B.

2005-01-01

This study presents quantitative, sociological models designed to account for cross-national variation in child mortality. We consider variables linked to five different theoretical perspectives that include the economic modernization, social modernization, political modernization, ecological-evolutionary, and dependency perspectives. The study is…

Neighborhood Context and Police Vigor: A Multilevel Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sobol, James J.; Wu, Yuning; Sun, Ivan Y.

2013-01-01

This study provides a partial test of Klinger's ecological theory of police behavior using hierarchical linear modeling on 1,677 suspects who had encounters with police within 24 beats. The current study used data from four sources originally collected by the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN), including systematic social observation,…

Student-Teacher Relationships Matter: Moderating Influences between Temperament and Preschool Social Competence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griggs, Marissa Swaim; Gagnon, Sandra Glover; Huelsman, Timothy J.; Kidder-Ashley, Pamela; Ballard, Mary

2009-01-01

Ecological approaches to preschool assessment, which consider both within-child and environmental variables, are considered best practice for school psychologists. This study employs such a model to investigate the interactive influence of child temperament and student-teacher relationship quality on peer play behaviors. Parents of 44 preschool…

Using network analysis to explore if professional opinions on Japanese encephalitis risk factors in Nepal reflect a socio-ecological system perspective.

PubMed

Hecker, Kent; El Kurdi, Syliva; Joshi, Durgadatt; Stephen, Craig

2013-12-01

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is the leading cause of viral encephalitis in Asia and a significant public health problem in Nepal. Its epidemiology is influenced by factors affecting its amplifying hosts (pigs), vectors (mosquitoes), and dead-end hosts (including people). While most control efforts target reduced susceptibility to infection either by vaccination of people or pigs or by reduced exposure to mosquitoes; the economic reality of Nepal makes it challenging to implement standard JE control measures. An ecohealth approach has been nominated as a way to assist in finding and prioritizing locally relevant strategies for JE control that may be viable, feasible, and acceptable. We sought to understand if Nepalese experts responsible for JE management conceived of its epidemiology in terms of a socio-ecological system to determine if they would consider ecohealth approaches. Network analysis suggested that they did not conceive JE risk as a product of a socio-ecological system. Traditional proximal risk factors of pigs, mosquitoes, and vaccination predominated experts' conception of JE risk. People seeking to encourage an ecohealth approach or social change models to JE management in Nepal may benefit from adopting social marketing concepts to encourage and empower local experts to examine JE from a socio-ecological perspective.

From actors to agents in socio-ecological systems models

PubMed Central

Rounsevell, M. D. A.; Robinson, D. T.; Murray-Rust, D.

2012-01-01

The ecosystem service concept has emphasized the role of people within socio-ecological systems (SESs). In this paper, we review and discuss alternative ways of representing people, their behaviour and decision-making processes in SES models using an agent-based modelling (ABM) approach. We also explore how ABM can be empirically grounded using information from social survey. The capacity for ABM to be generalized beyond case studies represents a crucial next step in modelling SESs, although this comes with considerable intellectual challenges. We propose the notion of human functional types, as an analogy of plant functional types, to support the expansion (scaling) of ABM to larger areas. The expansion of scope also implies the need to represent institutional agents in SES models in order to account for alternative governance structures and policy feedbacks. Further development in the coupling of human-environment systems would contribute considerably to better application and use of the ecosystem service concept. PMID:22144388

From actors to agents in socio-ecological systems models.

PubMed

Rounsevell, M D A; Robinson, D T; Murray-Rust, D

2012-01-19

The ecosystem service concept has emphasized the role of people within socio-ecological systems (SESs). In this paper, we review and discuss alternative ways of representing people, their behaviour and decision-making processes in SES models using an agent-based modelling (ABM) approach. We also explore how ABM can be empirically grounded using information from social survey. The capacity for ABM to be generalized beyond case studies represents a crucial next step in modelling SESs, although this comes with considerable intellectual challenges. We propose the notion of human functional types, as an analogy of plant functional types, to support the expansion (scaling) of ABM to larger areas. The expansion of scope also implies the need to represent institutional agents in SES models in order to account for alternative governance structures and policy feedbacks. Further development in the coupling of human-environment systems would contribute considerably to better application and use of the ecosystem service concept.

Niche construction drives social dependence in hermit crabs.

PubMed

Laidre, Mark E

2012-10-23

Organisms can receive not only a genetic inheritance from their ancestors but also an ecological inheritance, involving modifications their ancestors made to the environment through niche construction. Ecological inheritances may persist as a legacy, potentially generating selection pressures that favor sociality. Yet, most proposed cases of sociality being impacted by an ecological inheritance come from organisms that live among close kin and were highly social before their niche construction began. Here, I show that in terrestrial hermit crabs (Coenobita compressus)--organisms that do not live with kin and reside alone, each in its own shell--niche-construction drives social dependence, such that individuals can only survive in remodeled shells handed down from conspecifics. These results suggest that niche construction can be an important initiator of evolutionary pressures to socialize, even among unrelated and otherwise asocial organisms. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The ecology of primate material culture.

PubMed

Koops, Kathelijne; Visalberghi, Elisabetta; van Schaik, Carel P

2014-11-01

Tool use in extant primates may inform our understanding of the conditions that favoured the expansion of hominin technology and material culture. The 'method of exclusion' has, arguably, confirmed the presence of culture in wild animal populations by excluding ecological and genetic explanations for geographical variation in behaviour. However, this method neglects ecological influences on culture, which, ironically, may be critical for understanding technology and thus material culture. We review all the current evidence for the role of ecology in shaping material culture in three habitual tool-using non-human primates: chimpanzees, orangutans and capuchin monkeys. We show that environmental opportunity, rather than necessity, is the main driver. We argue that a better understanding of primate technology requires explicit investigation of the role of ecological conditions. We propose a model in which three sets of factors, namely environment, sociality and cognition, influence invention, transmission and retention of material culture. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Measuring individual disaster recovery: a socioecological framework.

PubMed

Abramson, David M; Stehling-Ariza, Tasha; Park, Yoon Soo; Walsh, Lauren; Culp, Derrin

2010-09-01

Disaster recovery is a complex phenomenon. Too often, recovery is measured in singular fashion, such as quantifying rebuilt infrastructure or lifelines, without taking in to account the affected population's individual and community recovery. A comprehensive framework is needed that encompasses a much broader and far-reaching construct with multiple underlying dimensions and numerous causal pathways; without the consideration of a comprehensive framework that investigates relationships between these factors, an accurate measurement of recovery may not be valid. This study proposes a model that encapsulates these ideas into a single framework, the Socio-Ecological Model of Recovery. Using confirmatory factor analysis, an operational measure of recovery was developed and validated using the five measures of housing stability, economic stability, physical health, mental health, and social role adaptation. The data were drawn from a sample of displaced households following Hurricane Katrina. Measures of psychological strength, risk, disaster exposure, neighborhood contextual effects, and formal and informal help were modeled to examine their direct and indirect effects on recovery using a structural equation model. All five elements of the recovery measure were positively correlated with a latent measure of recovery, although mental health and social role adaptation displayed the strongest associations. An individual's psychological strength had the greatest association with positive recovery, followed by having a household income greater than $20,000 and having informal social support. Those factors most strongly associated with an absence of recovery included the time displaced since the hurricane, being disabled, and living in a community with substantial social disorder. The socio-ecological framework provides a robust means for measuring recovery, and for testing those factors associated with the presence or absence of recovery.

Social and ecological synergy: local rulemaking, forest livelihoods, and biodiversity conservation.

PubMed

Persha, Lauren; Agrawal, Arun; Chhatre, Ashwini

2011-03-25

Causal pathways to achieve social and ecological benefits from forests are unclear, because there are few systematic multicountry empirical analyses that identify important factors and their complex relationships with social and ecological outcomes. This study examines biodiversity conservation and forest-based livelihood outcomes using a data set on 84 sites from six countries in East Africa and South Asia. We find both positive and negative relationships, leading to joint wins, losses, and trade-offs depending on specific contextual factors; participation in forest governance institutions by local forest users is strongly associated with jointly positive outcomes for forests in our study.

The social ecology of resolving family conflict among West African immigrants in New York: a grounded theory approach.

PubMed

Rasmussen, Andrew; Chu, Tracy; Akinsulure-Smith, Adeyinka M; Keatley, Eva

2013-09-01

The current study employs a grounded theory approach to examine West African immigrants' resolution of parent-child conflict and intimate partner conflict. Data from 59 participants present an interactive social ecological framework, where a lack of resolution at one level results in attempts to resolve problems at higher levels. Four levels are identified within West African immigrants' problem solving ecology, each with specific actors in positions of authority: individual/dyadic (parents and spouses), extended family (which includes distant relatives and relatives living in home countries), community leadership (non-family elders and religious leaders), and state authorities. From participants' descriptions of family challenges emerged a picture of a social ecology in flux, with traditional, socially conservative modes of resolving family conflict transposed across migration into the more liberal and state-oriented familial context of the United States. This transposition results in a loss spiral for the traditional social ecology, differentially affecting individual actors within families. Implications for helping professionals working with new immigrant communities include identifying variability in openness to adapting structures that are not working well (e.g., patriarchal protection of abusive husbands) and supporting structures known to be associated with well being (e.g., collective monitoring of youth).

Using expert informed GIS to locate important marine social-ecological hotspots.

PubMed

Mahboubi, Pouyan; Parkes, Margot; Stephen, Craig; Chan, Hing Man

2015-09-01

The marine environment provides significant benefits to many local communities. Pressure to develop coastal waterways worldwide creates an urgent need for tools to locate marine spaces that have important social or ecological values, and to quantify their relative importance. The primary objective of this study was to develop, apply and critically assess a tool to identify important social-ecological hotspots in the marine environment. The study was conducted in a typical coastal community in northern British Columbia, Canada. This expert-informed GIS, or xGIS, tool used a survey instrument to draw on the knowledge of local experts from a range of backgrounds with respect to a series of 12 social-ecological value attributes, such as biodiversity, cultural and economic values. We identified approximately 1500 polygons on marine maps and assigned relative values to them using a token distribution exercise. A series of spatial statistical analyses were performed to locate and quantify the relative social-ecological importance of marine spaces and the results were ultimately summarized in a single hotspot map of the entire study area. This study demonstrates the utility of xGIS as a useful tool for stakeholders and environmental managers engaged in the planning and management of marine resources at the local and regional levels. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ecology and social system of northern gibbons living in cold seasonal forests.

PubMed

Guan, Zhen-Hua; Ma, Chang-Yong; Fei, Han-Lan; Huang, Bei; Ning, Wen-He; Ni, Qing-Yong; Jiang, Xue-Long; Fan, Peng-Fei

2018-07-18

Gibbons in China represent the northernmost margin of present day gibbon species distribution (around N25°). Compared to tropical habitats, northern gibbon habitats are characterized by low temperatures and remarkable seasonal variation in fruit abundance. How gibbons adapt to their cold and seasonal habitats and what ecological factors affect their sociality are key questions for understanding their ecology and social system evolution, the elucidation of which will contribute to the conservation of these special populations/species. According to preliminary short-term studies, northern gibbons consume more leaves and use larger home ranges than tropical gibbons. Interestingly, some Nomascus groups consist of more than one adult female. However, these preliminary results are not well understood or incorporated into current socio-ecological theories regarding gibbon species. To better understand northern gibbons, our team has systematically studied three habituated groups of Nomascus concolor, three groups of N. nasutus, and two habituated groups of Hoolock tianxing since 2002. In this paper, we stress the challenges facing gibbons living in northern habitats and summarize their behavioral adaptations to their harsh environments. We also describe the northern gibbon social system and discuss the potential relationships between their ecology and sociality. Finally, we highlight future research questions related to northern gibbons in China.

The role of social values in the management of ecological systems.

PubMed

Ives, Christopher D; Kendal, Dave

2014-11-01

The concept of value is central to the practice and science of ecological management and conservation. There is a well-developed body of theory and evidence that explores concepts of value in different ways across different disciplines including philosophy, economics, sociology and psychology. Insight from these disciplines provides a robust and sophisticated platform for considering the role of social values in ecological conservation, management and research. This paper reviews theories of value from these disciplines and discusses practical tools and instruments that can be utilised by researchers and practitioners. A distinction is highlighted between underlying values that shape people's perception of the world (e.g. altruistic or biospheric value orientations), and the values that people assign to things in the world (e.g. natural heritage, money). Evidence from numerous studies has shown that there are multiple pathways between these values and attitudes, beliefs and behaviours relevant to ecological management and conservation. In an age of increasing anthropogenic impacts on natural systems, recognising how and why people value different aspects of ecological systems can allow ecological managers to act to minimise conflict between stakeholders and promote the social acceptability of management activities. A series of practical guidelines are provided to enable social values to be better considered in ecosystem management and research. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Adaptive governance to promote ecosystem services in urban ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Managing urban green space as part of an ongoing social-ecological transformationposes novel governance issues, particularly in post-industrial settings. Urban green spaces operate as small-scale nodes in larger networks of ecological reserves that provide and maintain key ecosystem services such as pollination, water retention and infiltration, and sustainable food production. In an urban mosaic, a myriad of social and ecological components factor into aggregating and managing land to maintain or increase the flow of ecosystem services associated with green spaces. Vacant lots (a form of urban green space) are being repurposed for multiple functions, such as habitat for biodiversity, including arthropods that provide pollination services to other green areas; to capture urban runoff that eases the burden on ageing wastewater systems and other civic infrastructure; and to reduce urban heat island effects. Urban green spaces provide vital ecosystem services at varying degrees, depending on the size, function, and management of these spaces. Governance of linked social-ecological systems to maximize those services poses unique challenges given the uncertainty of ecological responses and the social political complexity of managing ecological resources in an urban context where fiscal and human resources are strained. In North America, many cities are facing fiscal austerity because of shrinkage in manufacturing and industrial sectors and the foreclosure crisis. As

Feedbacks between conservation and social-ecological systems

PubMed Central

Miller, Brian W.; Caplow, Susan C.; Leslie, Paul W.

2012-01-01

Robust ways to meet objectives of environmental conservation and social and economic development remain elusive. This struggle may in part be related to insufficient understanding of the feedbacks between conservation initiatives and social-ecological systems, specifically, the ways in which conservation initiatives result in social changes that have secondary effects on the environments targeted by conservation. To explore this idea we sampled peer-reviewed articles addressing the social and environmental dimensions of conservation and coded each paper according to its research focus and characterization of these feedbacks. The majority of articles in our sample focused either on the effect of conservation initiatives on people (e.g., relocation, employment) or the effect of people on the environment (e.g., fragmentation, conservation efficacy of traditional management systems). Few studies in our sample empirically addressed both the social dynamics resulting from conservation initiatives and subsequent environmental effects. In many cases, one was measured and the other was discussed anecdotally. Among the studies that describe feedbacks between social and environmental variables, there was more evidence of positive (amplifying) feedbacks between social and environmental outcomes (i.e., undesirable social outcomes yielded undesirable environmental effects, and desirable social outcomes yielded desirable environmental effects). The major themes within the sampled literature include conflict between humans and wild animals, social movements, adaptive comanagement, loss of traditional management systems, traditional ecological knowledge, human displacement and risks to livelihoods, and conservation and development. The narratives associated with each theme can serve as hypotheses for facilitating further discussion about conservation issues and for catalyzing future studies of the feedbacks between conservation and social-ecological systems. PMID:22443128

Social science in the context of the long term ecological research program

Treesearch

Ted L. Gragson; Morgan Grove

2006-01-01

This special issue of Society and Natural Resources brings the results of long-term ecological research with an explicit social dimension to the attention of the social scientific research community. Contributions are from the Baltimore Ecosystem Study LTER, the Central Arizona-Phoenix LTER, the Coweeta LTER and the Northern Temperate Lakes LTER The range of practice...

Social science in the context of the long term ecological research program

Treesearch

Ted L. Gragson; Morgan Grove

2006-01-01

This special issue of Society and Natural Resources brings the results of long-term ecological research with an explicit social dimension to the attention of the social scientific research community. Contributions are from the Baltimore Ecosystem Study LTER, the Central Arizona-Phoenix LTER, the Coweeta LTER and the Northern Temperate Lakes LTER. The range of practice...

An Ecological Exploration of Young Children's Digital Play: Framing Children's Social Experiences with Technologies in Early Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnott, Lorna

2016-01-01

This article outlines an ecological framework for describing children's social experiences during digital play. It presents evidence from a study that explored how 3- to 5-year-old children negotiated their social experiences as they used technologies in preschool. Utilising a systematic and iterative cycle of data collection and analysis,…

Deepening, and repairing, the metabolic rift.

PubMed

Schneider, Mindi; McMichael, Philip

2010-01-01

This paper critically assesses the metabolic rift as a social, ecological, and historical concept describing the disruption of natural cycles and processes and ruptures in material human-nature relations under capitalism. As a social concept, the metabolic rift presumes that metabolism is understood in relation to the labour process. This conception, however, privileges the organisation of labour to the exclusion of the practice of labour, which we argue challenges its utility for analysing contemporary socio-environmental crises. As an ecological concept, the metabolic rift is based on outmoded understandings of (agro) ecosystems and inadequately describes relations and interactions between labour and ecological processes. Historically, the metabolic rift is integral to debates about the definitions and relations of capitalism, industrialism, and modernity as historical concepts. At the same time, it gives rise to an epistemic rift, insofar as the separation of the natural and social worlds comes to be expressed in social thought and critical theory, which have one-sidedly focused on the social. We argue that a reunification of the social and the ecological, in historical practice and in historical thought, is the key to repairing the metabolic rift, both conceptually and practically. The food sovereignty movement in this respect is exemplary.

Assessment of ecological security based on soil and water conservation: a case study from Gansu Province, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Z. J.; Tian, Q.; Song, L. L.

2016-08-01

In this study, the analytic hierarchy process (ahp), ecological security index(S) and PSR model were used to evaluate Gansu's ecological security based on the large number of survey data. The results indicated that Gansu's ecological security index increased from 0.31 in 1986 to 0.66 in 2013, which reflected ecological security was in sensitive state (0.7༞S≥⃒0.5). The main reason was that national policy on protecting the ecological environment has played a crucial role, especially the national project of returning farmland to forest and grass carried out in recent years. Moreover, the environmental issues such as the higher PM2.5, sand storms and climate extremes, had significantly improved people's environmental awareness in the study area. The regional difference of ecological security index was significant in Gansu Provinces, and the part of Yangtze river basin was higher than the part of Yellow River basin, whiles the in-land river basin was the lowest value. In a world, Gansu's ecological security had improved in recent years, but there was strong need for paying more attention to policy for ecological environment protection and increasing the propaganda to ensure the Gansu's ecological security in the future. This study will provide a scientific basis for the sustainable development of regional social economy and ecological environment.

More than mere numbers: the impact of lethal control on the social stability of a top-order predator.

PubMed

Wallach, Arian D; Ritchie, Euan G; Read, John; O'Neill, Adam J

2009-09-02

Population control of socially complex species may have profound ecological implications that remain largely invisible if only their abundance is considered. Here we discuss the effects of control on a socially complex top-order predator, the dingo (Canis lupus dingo). Since European occupation of Australia, dingoes have been controlled over much of the continent. Our aim was to investigate the effects of control on their abundance and social stability. We hypothesized that dingo abundance and social stability are not linearly related, and proposed a theoretical model in which dingo populations may fluctuate between three main states: (A) below carrying capacity and socially fractured, (B) above carrying capacity and socially fractured, or (C) at carrying capacity and socially stable. We predicted that lethal control would drive dingoes into the unstable states A or B, and that relaxation of control would allow recovery towards C. We tested our predictions by surveying relative abundance (track density) and indicators of social stability (scent-marking and howling) at seven sites in the arid zone subject to differing degrees of control. We also monitored changes in dingo abundance and social stability following relaxation and intensification of control. Sites where dingoes had been controlled within the previous two years were characterized by low scent-marking activity, but abundance was similar at sites with and without control. Signs of social stability steadily increased the longer an area was allowed to recover from control, but change in abundance did not follow a consistent path. Comparison of abundance and stability among all sites and years demonstrated that control severely fractures social groups, but that the effect of control on abundance was neither consistent nor predictable. Management decisions involving large social predators must therefore consider social stability to ensure their conservation and ecological functioning.

Socioemotional characteristics of elementary school children identified as exhibiting social leadership qualities.

PubMed

Scharf, Miri; Mayseless, Ofra

2009-03-01

Elementary school teachers identified characteristics in 4 major socioemotional domains associated with children's social leadership: self-perception, social anxiety, attachment orientation with peers, and interpersonal goals and skills in close friendships. Participants were 260 4th- and 5th-grade students (126 boys, 134 girls) from 10 classes in a school in northern Israel. Social leadership skills were associated with positive self-perceptions in various domains, low social anxiety, secure orientation to peers, higher levels of relationship-maintenance goal, lower levels of revenge goal in close friendships, and-unexpectedly-lower levels of accommodation as a strategy to solve conflicts with a friend. Positive self-concept and attachment security were indirectly associated with leadership qualities through their significant association with prosocial orientation skills. The authors discuss these findings as reflecting an internalization of positive model of self and positive model of others in children who exhibit social leadership qualities. The authors also discuss implications of these qualities for school and class ecology, as well as the importance of culture.

Historical foundations and future directions in macrosystems ecology

Treesearch

Kevin C. Rose; Rose A. Graves; Winslow D. Hansen; Brian J. Harvey; Jiangxiao Qiu; Stephen A. Wood; Carly Ziter; Monica G. Turner; Wilfried Thuiller

2017-01-01

Macrosystems ecology is an effort to understand ecological processes and interactions at the broadest spatial scales and has potential to help solve globally important social and ecological challenges. It is important to understand the intellectual legacies underpinning macrosystems ecology: How the subdiscipline fits within, builds upon, differs from and...

Social Ecology of Child Soldiers: Child, Family, and Community Determinants of Mental Health, Psychosocial Wellbeing, and Reintegration in Nepal

PubMed Central

Kohrt, Brandon A.; Jordans, Mark J.D.; Tol, Wietse A.; Perera, Em; Karki, Rohit; Koirala, Suraj; Upadhaya, Nawaraj

2013-01-01

This study employs social ecology to evaluate psychosocial wellbeing in a cross-sectional sample of 142 former child soldiers in Nepal. Outcome measures included the Depression Self Rating Scale (DSRS), Child Posttraumatic Stress Scale (CPSS), and locally developed measures of function impairment and reintegration. At the child level, traumatic exposures, especially torture, predicted poor outcomes, while education improved outcomes. At the family level, conflict-related death of a relative, physical abuse in the household, and loss of wealth during the conflict predicted poor outcomes. At the community level, living in high caste Hindu communities predicted fewer reintegration supports. Ultimately, social ecology is well-suited to identify intervention foci across ecological levels, based on community differences in vulnerability and protective factors. PMID:21088102

Social-ecological factors associated with selling sex among men who have sex with men in Jamaica: results from a cross-sectional tablet-based survey.

PubMed

Logie, Carmen H; Lacombe-Duncan, Ashley; Kenny, Kathleen S; Levermore, Kandasi; Jones, Nicolette; Baral, Stefan D; Wang, Ying; Marshall, Annecka; Newman, Peter A

2018-01-01

Globally, men who have sex with men (MSM) experience social marginalization and criminalization that increase HIV vulnerability by constraining access to HIV prevention and care. People who sell sex also experience criminalization, rights violations, and violence, which elevate HIV exposure. MSM who sell sex may experience intersectional stigma and intensified social marginalization, yet have largely been overlooked in epidemiological and social HIV research. In Jamaica, where same sex practices and sex work are criminalized, scant research has investigated sex selling among MSM, including associations with HIV vulnerability. We aimed to examine social ecological factors associated with selling sex among MSM in Jamaica, including exchanging sex for money, shelter, food, transportation, or drugs/alcohol (past 12 months). We conducted a cross-sectional survey with a peer-driven sample of MSM in Kingston, Ocho Rios, and Montego Bay. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to estimate intrapersonal/individual, interpersonal/social, and structural factors associated with selling sex. Among 556 MSM, one-third (n = 182; 32.7%) reported selling sex. In the final multivariable model, correlates of selling sex included: individual/intrapersonal (lower safer sex self-efficacy [AOR: 0.85, 95% CI: 0.77, 0.94]), interpersonal/social (concurrent partnerships [AOR: 5.52, 95% CI: 1.56, 19.53], a higher need for social support [AOR: 1.08, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.12], lifetime forced sex [AOR: 2.74, 95% 1.65, 4.55]) and structural-level factors (sexual stigma [AOR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.15], food insecurity [AOR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.41, 4.02], housing insecurity [AOR: 1.94, 95% CI: 1.16, 3.26], no regular healthcare provider [AOR: 2.72, 95% CI: 1.60, 4.64]). This study highlights social ecological correlates of selling sex among MSM in Jamaica, in particular elevated stigma and economic insecurity. Findings suggest that MSM in Jamaica who sell sex experience intensified social and structural HIV vulnerabilities that should be addressed in multi-level interventions to promote health and human rights.

Social-ecological factors associated with selling sex among men who have sex with men in Jamaica: results from a cross-sectional tablet-based survey

PubMed Central

Logie, Carmen H.; Lacombe-Duncan, Ashley; Kenny, Kathleen S.; Levermore, Kandasi; Jones, Nicolette; Baral, Stefan D.; Wang, Ying; Marshall, Annecka; Newman, Peter A.

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT Background: Globally, men who have sex with men (MSM) experience social marginalization and criminalization that increase HIV vulnerability by constraining access to HIV prevention and care. People who sell sex also experience criminalization, rights violations, and violence, which elevate HIV exposure. MSM who sell sex may experience intersectional stigma and intensified social marginalization, yet have largely been overlooked in epidemiological and social HIV research. In Jamaica, where same sex practices and sex work are criminalized, scant research has investigated sex selling among MSM, including associations with HIV vulnerability. Objective: We aimed to examine social ecological factors associated with selling sex among MSM in Jamaica, including exchanging sex for money, shelter, food, transportation, or drugs/alcohol (past 12 months). Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey with a peer-driven sample of MSM in Kingston, Ocho Rios, and Montego Bay. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to estimate intrapersonal/individual, interpersonal/social, and structural factors associated with selling sex. Results: Among 556 MSM, one-third (n = 182; 32.7%) reported selling sex. In the final multivariable model, correlates of selling sex included: individual/intrapersonal (lower safer sex self-efficacy [AOR: 0.85, 95% CI: 0.77, 0.94]), interpersonal/social (concurrent partnerships [AOR: 5.52, 95% CI: 1.56, 19.53], a higher need for social support [AOR: 1.08, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.12], lifetime forced sex [AOR: 2.74, 95% 1.65, 4.55]) and structural-level factors (sexual stigma [AOR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.15], food insecurity [AOR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.41, 4.02], housing insecurity [AOR: 1.94, 95% CI: 1.16, 3.26], no regular healthcare provider [AOR: 2.72, 95% CI: 1.60, 4.64]). Conclusions: This study highlights social ecological correlates of selling sex among MSM in Jamaica, in particular elevated stigma and economic insecurity. Findings suggest that MSM in Jamaica who sell sex experience intensified social and structural HIV vulnerabilities that should be addressed in multi-level interventions to promote health and human rights. PMID:29338660

A socio-ecological autopsy of the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in Walkerton, Ontario, Canada.

PubMed

Ali, S Harris

2004-06-01

The socio-political context of modern environmental health disasters tends to be defined as being outside the scope of official public health and epidemiological investigations into the causes of such disasters. On the other hand, popular accounts of these disasters tend to focus exclusively on the role of particular individuals and/or political actors, while minimizing the role of ecological factors. It is argued that an exclusive focus on either set of causal factors gives an incomplete or distorted picture of the origins of an environmental health disaster. In this paper, a socio-ecological analysis is developed to demonstrate how the largest outbreak of waterborne E. coli O157:H7 in Canadian history was the emergent product of a complex interplay and intertwining of social and ecological processes. The socio-ecological autopsy approach that is developed here traces the social and ecological chain of events that ultimately led to the outbreak and demonstrates, in particular, the need for investigative analysis to focus on the socio-ecological "incubation" of an environmental health disaster. Drawing from both the social sciences (particularly, the sociology of disasters and organizational sociology), and from the ecological sciences (particularly disease ecology), the analysis developed here responds to the call for the application of a more transdisciplinary approach to the study of contemporary environmental health problems.

Socioecological psychology.

PubMed

Oishi, Shigehiro

2014-01-01

Socioecological psychology investigates humans' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral adaption to physical, interpersonal, economic, and political environments. This article summarizes three types of socioecological psychology research: (a) association studies that link an aspect of social ecology (e.g., population density) with psychology (e.g., prosocial behavior), (b) process studies that clarify why there is an association between social ecology and psychology (e.g., residential mobility → anxiety → familiarity seeking), and (c) niche construction studies that illuminate how psychological states give rise to the creation and maintenance of a social ecology (e.g., familiarity seeking → dominance of national chain stores). Socioecological psychology attempts to bring the objectivist perspective to psychological science, investigating how objective social and physical environments, not just perception and construal of the environments, affect one's thinking, feeling, and behaviors, as well as how people's thinking, feeling, and behaviors give rise to social and built environments.

Incorporating a Socio-Ecological-Technological Systems (SETS) perspective into the adaptive management framework

EPA Science Inventory

Incorporating a social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) perspective to the adaptive management process requires that stakeholders and managers conceptualize restoration projects as part of coupled human and natural systems and assess underlying social drivers and accrued b...

7 CFR 650.3 - Policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... AGRICULTURE SUPPORT ACTIVITIES COMPLIANCE WITH NEPA Procedures for NRCS-Assisted Programs § 650.3 Policy. (a... ecological, cultural, natural, physical, social, and economic resources by striving for a balance between use... ecological, cultural, natural, physical, social, and economic resources by striving for a balance between...

A systematic review of US rangeland social science

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Rangeland science aims to create knowledge to sustain rangeland social-ecological systems over the long term. Range science has made substantial progress on understanding ecological dynamics of rangeland systems and the management practices that sustain them, and these findings have been systematica...

The Benefits of Restoration in Urbanizing Watersheds: Developing Value Indicators and Understanding Social Barriers and Opportunities

EPA Science Inventory

Ecological restoration can reestablish ecosystem services (ES) that provide important social benefits, but managers with limited funds and resources are forced to prioritize potential restoration sites. Prioritizing restoration sites based on ecological functioning and expected ...

Ecology of zoonotic infectious diseases in bats: current knowledge and future directions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hayman, D.T.; Bowen, R.A.; Cryan, P.M.; McCracken, G.F.; O'Shea, T.J.; Peel, A.J.; Gilbert, A.; Webb, C.T.; Wood, J.L.

2013-01-01

Bats are hosts to a range of zoonotic and potentially zoonotic pathogens. Human activities that increase exposure to bats will likely increase the opportunity for infections to spill over in the future. Ecological drivers of pathogen spillover and emergence in novel hosts, including humans, involve a complex mixture of processes, and understanding these complexities may aid in predicting spillover. In particular, only once the pathogen and host ecologies are known can the impacts of anthropogenic changes be fully appreciated. Cross-disciplinary approaches are required to understand how host and pathogen ecology interact. Bats differ from other sylvatic disease reservoirs because of their unique and diverse lifestyles, including their ability to fly, often highly gregarious social structures, long lifespans and low fecundity rates. We highlight how these traits may affect infection dynamics and how both host and pathogen traits may interact to affect infection dynamics. We identify key questions relating to the ecology of infectious diseases in bats and propose that a combination of field and laboratory studies are needed to create data-driven mechanistic models to elucidate those aspects of bat ecology that are most critical to the dynamics of emerging bat viruses. If commonalities can be found, then predicting the dynamics of newly emerging diseases may be possible. This modelling approach will be particularly important in scenarios when population surveillance data are unavailable and when it is unclear which aspects of host ecology are driving infection dynamics.

Ecology of Zoonotic Infectious Diseases in Bats: Current Knowledge and Future Directions

PubMed Central

Hayman, D T S; Bowen, R A; Cryan, P M; McCracken, G F; O’Shea, T J; Peel, A J; Gilbert, A; Webb, C T; Wood, J L N

2013-01-01

Bats are hosts to a range of zoonotic and potentially zoonotic pathogens. Human activities that increase exposure to bats will likely increase the opportunity for infections to spill over in the future. Ecological drivers of pathogen spillover and emergence in novel hosts, including humans, involve a complex mixture of processes, and understanding these complexities may aid in predicting spillover. In particular, only once the pathogen and host ecologies are known can the impacts of anthropogenic changes be fully appreciated. Cross-disciplinary approaches are required to understand how host and pathogen ecology interact. Bats differ from other sylvatic disease reservoirs because of their unique and diverse lifestyles, including their ability to fly, often highly gregarious social structures, long lifespans and low fecundity rates. We highlight how these traits may affect infection dynamics and how both host and pathogen traits may interact to affect infection dynamics. We identify key questions relating to the ecology of infectious diseases in bats and propose that a combination of field and laboratory studies are needed to create data-driven mechanistic models to elucidate those aspects of bat ecology that are most critical to the dynamics of emerging bat viruses. If commonalities can be found, then predicting the dynamics of newly emerging diseases may be possible. This modelling approach will be particularly important in scenarios when population surveillance data are unavailable and when it is unclear which aspects of host ecology are driving infection dynamics. PMID:22958281

Ecological validity of cost-effectiveness models of universal HPV vaccination: A systematic literature review.

PubMed

Favato, Giampiero; Easton, Tania; Vecchiato, Riccardo; Noikokyris, Emmanouil

2017-05-09

The protective (herd) effect of the selective vaccination of pubertal girls against human papillomavirus (HPV) implies a high probability that one of the two partners involved in intercourse is immunised, hence preventing the other from this sexually transmitted infection. The dynamic transmission models used to inform immunisation policy should include consideration of sexual behaviours and population mixing in order to demonstrate an ecological validity, whereby the scenarios modelled remain faithful to the real-life social and cultural context. The primary aim of this review is to test the ecological validity of the universal HPV vaccination cost-effectiveness modelling available in the published literature. The research protocol related to this systematic review has been registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO: CRD42016034145). Eight published economic evaluations were reviewed. None of the studies showed due consideration of the complexities of human sexual behaviour and the impact this may have on the transmission of HPV. Our findings indicate that all the included models might be affected by a different degree of ecological bias, which implies an inability to reflect the natural demographic and behavioural trends in their outcomes and, consequently, to accurately inform public healthcare policy. In particular, ecological bias have the effect to over-estimate the preference-based outcomes of selective immunisation. A relatively small (15-20%) over-estimation of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained with selective immunisation programmes could induce a significant error in the estimate of cost-effectiveness of universal immunisation, by inflating its incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER) beyond the acceptability threshold. The results modelled here demonstrate the limitations of the cost-effectiveness studies for HPV vaccination, and highlight the concern that public healthcare policy might have been built upon incomplete studies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Diagnosing Disaster Resilience of Communities as Multi-scale Complex Socio-ecological Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Wei; Mochizuki, Junko; Keating, Adriana; Mechler, Reinhard; Williges, Keith; Hochrainer, Stefan

2014-05-01

Global environmental change, growing anthropogenic influence, and increasing globalisation of society have made it clear that disaster vulnerability and resilience of communities cannot be understood without knowledge on the broader social-ecological system in which they are embedded. We propose a framework for diagnosing community resilience to disasters, as a form of disturbance to social-ecological systems, with feedbacks from the local to the global scale. Inspired by iterative multi-scale analysis employed by Resilience Alliance, the related socio-ecological systems framework of Ostrom, and the sustainable livelihood framework, we developed a multi-tier framework for thinking of communities as multi-scale social-ecological systems and analyzing communities' disaster resilience and also general resilience. We highlight the cross-scale influences and feedbacks on communities that exist from lower (e.g., household) to higher (e.g., regional, national) scales. The conceptual framework is then applied to a real-world resilience assessment situation, to illustrate how key components of socio-ecological systems, including natural hazards, natural and man-made environment, and community capacities can be delineated and analyzed.

A synthesis of the theory of silencing the self and the social ecological model: understanding gender, race, and depression in African American women living with HIV infection.

PubMed

Lanier, Latrona; DeMarco, Rosanna

2015-03-01

The challenges that face African American women living with HIV are immense. African American women continue to be disproportionately infected and affected by this chronic and life-threatening infection in a complex context of individual experience, interactions with the environment, formal and informal support systems, and cultural belief systems. This article identifies the Theory of Silencing the Self (STS) and a widely known model, the Social Ecological Model (SEM), as a synthesized explanatory framework in helping nurses understand how to address research questions and clinical care that is congruent with the experience of African American women living with HIV infection. In synthesizing the components of these two frameworks, an explanation of the relationship between disempowerment and depression in this population will be uncovered as a key component to making relationships at the individual, family, and community level better. Helping African American women living with HIV infection to explore and address how choosing to be silent across their life systems will advance healthcare adherence as we currently know it to improved self-management of a chronic, gender-specific, culturally-bound experience of depression.

Obesity in sub-Saharan Africa: development of an ecological theoretical framework.

PubMed

Scott, Alison; Ejikeme, Chinwe Stella; Clottey, Emmanuel Nii; Thomas, Joy Goens

2013-03-01

The prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). There is a need for theoretical frameworks to catalyze further research and to inform the development of multi-level, context-appropriate interventions. In this commentary, we propose a preliminary ecological theoretical framework to conceptualize factors that contribute to increases in overweight and obesity in SSA. The framework is based on a Causality Continuum model [Coreil et al. Social and Behavioral Foundations of Public Health. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks] that considers distant, intermediate and proximate influences. The influences incorporated in the model include globalization and urbanization as distant factors; occupation, social relationships, built environment and cultural perceptions of weight as intermediate factors and caloric intake, physical inactivity and genetics as proximate factors. The model illustrates the interaction of factors along a continuum, from the individual to the global marketplace, in shaping trends in overweight and obesity in SSA. The framework will be presented, each influence elucidated and implications for research and intervention development discussed. There is a tremendous need for further research on obesity in SSA. An improved evidence base will serve to validate and develop the proposed framework further.

Interactions between spatially explicit conservation and management measures: implications for the governance of marine protected areas.

PubMed

Cárcamo, P Francisco; Gaymer, Carlos F

2013-12-01

Marine protected areas are not established in an institutional and governance vacuum and managers should pay attention to the wider social-ecological system in which they are immersed. This article examines Islas Choros-Damas Marine Reserve, a small marine protected area located in a highly productive and biologically diverse coastal marine ecosystem in northern Chile, and the interactions between human, institutional, and ecological dimensions beyond those existing within its boundaries. Through documents analysis, surveys, and interviews, we described marine reserve implementation (governing system) and the social and natural ecosystem-to-be-governed. We analyzed the interactions and the connections between the marine reserve and other spatially explicit conservation and/or management measures existing in the area and influencing management outcomes and governance. A top-down approach with poor stakeholder involvement characterized the implementation process. The marine reserve is highly connected with other spatially explicit measures and with a wider social-ecological system through various ecological processes and socio-economic interactions. Current institutional interactions with positive effects on the management and governance are scarce, although several potential interactions may be developed. For the study area, any management action must recognize interferences from outside conditions and consider some of them (e.g., ecotourism management) as cross-cutting actions for the entire social-ecological system. We consider that institutional interactions and the development of social networks are opportunities to any collective effort aiming to improve governance of Islas Choros-Damas marine reserve. Communication of connections and interactions between marine protected areas and the wider social-ecological system (as described in this study) is proposed as a strategy to improve stakeholder participation in Chilean marine protected areas.

Interactions Between Spatially Explicit Conservation and Management Measures: Implications for the Governance of Marine Protected Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cárcamo, P. Francisco; Gaymer, Carlos F.

2013-12-01

Marine protected areas are not established in an institutional and governance vacuum and managers should pay attention to the wider social-ecological system in which they are immersed. This article examines Islas Choros-Damas Marine Reserve, a small marine protected area located in a highly productive and biologically diverse coastal marine ecosystem in northern Chile, and the interactions between human, institutional, and ecological dimensions beyond those existing within its boundaries. Through documents analysis, surveys, and interviews, we described marine reserve implementation (governing system) and the social and natural ecosystem-to-be-governed. We analyzed the interactions and the connections between the marine reserve and other spatially explicit conservation and/or management measures existing in the area and influencing management outcomes and governance. A top-down approach with poor stakeholder involvement characterized the implementation process. The marine reserve is highly connected with other spatially explicit measures and with a wider social-ecological system through various ecological processes and socio-economic interactions. Current institutional interactions with positive effects on the management and governance are scarce, although several potential interactions may be developed. For the study area, any management action must recognize interferences from outside conditions and consider some of them (e.g., ecotourism management) as cross-cutting actions for the entire social-ecological system. We consider that institutional interactions and the development of social networks are opportunities to any collective effort aiming to improve governance of Islas Choros-Damas marine reserve. Communication of connections and interactions between marine protected areas and the wider social-ecological system (as described in this study) is proposed as a strategy to improve stakeholder participation in Chilean marine protected areas.

Hotspots of human-induced biomass productivity decline and their social-ecological types toward supporting national policy and local studies on combating land degradation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vu, Quyet Manh; Le, Quang Bao; Vlek, Paul L. G.

2014-10-01

Identification and social-ecological characterization of areas that experience high levels of persistent productivity decline are essential for planning appropriate management measures. Although land degradation is mainly induced by human actions, the phenomenon is concurrently influenced by global climate changes that need to be taken into account in land degradation assessments. This study aims to delineate the geographic hotspots of human-induced land degradation in the country and classify the social-ecological characterizations of each specific degradation hotspot type. The research entailed a long-term time-series (1982-2006) of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index to specify the extents of areas with significant biomass decline or increase in Vietnam. Annual rainfall and temperature time-series were then used to separate areas of human-induced biomass productivity decline from those driven by climate dynamics. Next, spatial cluster analyses identified social-ecological types of degradation for guiding further investigations at regional and local scales. The results show that about 19% of the national land mass experienced persistent declines in biomass productivity over the last 25 years. Most of the degraded areas are found in the Southeast and Mekong River Delta (17,984 km2), Northwest Mountains (14,336 km2), and Central Highlands (13,504 km2). We identified six and five social-ecological types of degradation hotspots in agricultural and forested zones, respectively. Constraints in soil nutrient availability and nutrient retention capability are widely spreading in all degradation hotspot types. These hotspot types are different from each other in social and ecological conditions, suggesting that region-specific strategies are needed for the formulation of land degradation combating policy.

Social evolution in multispecies biofilms

PubMed Central

Mitri, Sara; Xavier, João B.; Foster, Kevin R.

2011-01-01

Microbial ecology is revealing the vast diversity of strains and species that coexist in many environments, ranging from free-living communities to the symbionts that compose the human microbiome. In parallel, there is growing evidence of the importance of cooperative phenotypes for the growth and behavior of microbial groups. Here we ask: How does the presence of multiple species affect the evolution of cooperative secretions? We use a computer simulation of spatially structured cellular groups that captures key features of their biology and physical environment. When nutrient competition is strong, we find that the addition of new species can inhibit cooperation by eradicating secreting strains before they can become established. When nutrients are abundant and many species mix in one environment, however, our model predicts that secretor strains of any one species will be surrounded by other species. This “social insulation” protects secretors from competition with nonsecretors of the same species and can improve the prospects of within-species cooperation. We also observe constraints on the evolution of mutualistic interactions among species, because it is difficult to find conditions that simultaneously favor both within- and among-species cooperation. Although relatively simple, our model reveals the richness of interactions between the ecology and social evolution of multispecies microbial groups, which can be critical for the evolution of cooperation. PMID:21690380

Ecological restoration of farmland: progress and prospects.

PubMed

Wade, Mark R; Gurr, Geoff M; Wratten, Steve D

2008-02-27

Sustainable agricultural practices in conjunction with ecological restoration methods can reduce the detrimental effects of agriculture. The Society for Ecological Restoration International has produced generic guidelines for conceiving, organizing, conducting and assessing ecological restoration projects. Additionally, there are now good conceptual frameworks, guidelines and practical methods for developing ecological restoration programmes that are based on sound ecological principles and supported by empirical evidence and modelling approaches. Restoration methods must also be technically achievable and socially acceptable and spread over a range of locations. It is important to reconcile differences between methods that favour conservation and those that favour economic returns, to ensure that conservation efforts are beneficial for both landowners and biodiversity. One option for this type of mutual benefit is the use of agri-environmental schemes to provide financial incentives to landholders in exchange for providing conservation services and other benefits. However, further work is required to define and measure the effectiveness of agri-environmental schemes. The broader potential for ecological restoration to improve the sustainability of agricultural production while conserving biodiversity in farmscapes and reducing external costs is high, but there is still much to learn, particularly for the most efficient use of agri-environmental schemes to change land use practice.

Ecological restoration should be redefined for the twenty-first century.

PubMed

Martin, David M

2017-09-24

Forty years ago, ecological restoration was conceptualized through a natural science lens. Today, ecological restoration has evolved into a social and scientific concept. The duality of ecological restoration is acknowledged in guidance documents on the subject but is not apparent in its definition. Current definitions reflect our views about what ecological restoration does but not why we do it. This viewpoint does not give appropriate credit to contributions from social sciences, nor does it provide compelling goals for people with different motivating rationales to engage in or support restoration. In this study, I give a concise history of the conceptualization and definition of ecological restoration, and I propose an alternative definition and corresponding viewpoint on restoration goal-setting to meet twenty-first century scientific and public inquiry.

Who Reaps the Benefits of Social Change? Exploration and Its Socioecological Boundaries.

PubMed

Lechner, Clemens M; Obschonka, Martin; Silbereisen, Rainer K

2017-04-01

We investigated the interplay between the personality trait exploration and objective socioecological conditions in shaping individual differences in the experience of two individual-level benefits of current social change: new lifestyle options, which arise from the societal trend toward individualization, and new learning opportunities, which accrue from the societal trend toward lifelong learning. We hypothesized that people with higher trait exploration experience a greater increase in lifestyle options and learning opportunities--but more so in social ecologies in which individualization and lifelong learning are stronger, thus offering greater latitude for exploring the benefits of these trends. We employed structural equation modeling in two parallel adult samples from Germany (N = 2,448) and Poland (N = 2,571), using regional divorce rates as a proxy for individualization and Internet domain registration rates as a proxy for lifelong learning. Higher exploration was related to a greater perceived increase in lifestyle options and in learning opportunities over the past 5 years. These associations were stronger in regions in which the trends toward individualization and lifelong learning, respectively, were more prominent. Individuals higher in exploration are better equipped to reap the benefits of current social change--but the effects of exploration are bounded by the conditions in the social ecology. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A social-ecological framework: A model for addressing ethical practice in nursing.

PubMed

Davidson, Patricia; Rushton, Cynda Hylton; Kurtz, Melissa; Wise, Brian; Jackson, Debra; Beaman, Adam; Broome, Marion

2018-03-01

To develop a framework to enable discussion, debate and the formulation of interventions to address ethical issues in nursing practice. Social, cultural, political and economic drivers are rapidly changing the landscape of health care in our local environments but also in a global context. Increasingly, nurses are faced with a range of ethical dilemmas in their work. This requires investigation into the culture of healthcare systems and organisations to identify the root causes and address the barriers and enablers of ethical practice. The increased medicalisation of health care; pressures for systemisation; efficiency and cost reduction; and an ageing population contribute to this complexity. Often, ethical issues in nursing are considered within the abstract and philosophical realm until a dilemma is encountered. Such an approach limits the capacity to tangibly embrace ethical values and frameworks as pathways to equitable, accessible, safe and quality health care and as a foundation for strengthening a supportive and enabling workplace for nurses and other healthcare workers. Conceptual framework development. A comprehensive literature review was undertaken using the social-ecological framework as an organising construct. This framework views ethical practice as the outcome of interaction among a range of factors at eight levels: individual factors (patients and families); individual factors (nurses); relationships between healthcare professionals; relationships between patients and nurses; organisational healthcare context; professional and education regulation and standards; community; and social, political and economic. Considering these elements as discrete, yet interactive and intertwined forces can be useful in developing interventions to promote ethical practice. We consider this framework to have utility in policy, practice, education and research. Nurses face ethical challenges on a daily basis, considering these within a social-ecological framework can assist in developing strategies and resolutions. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Contribution of formative research to design an environmental program for obesity prevention in schools in Mexico City.

PubMed

Bonvecchio, Anabelle; Théodore, Florence L; Safdie, Margarita; Duque, Tiffany; Villanueva, María Ángeles; Torres, Catalina; Rivera, Juan

2014-01-01

This paper describes the methods and key findings of formative research conducted to design a school-based program for obesity prevention. Formative research was based on the ecological model and the principles of social marketing. A mixed method approach was used. Qualitative (direct observation, indepth interviews, focus group discussions and photo-voice) and quantitative (closed ended surveys, checklists, anthropometry) methods were employed. Formative research key findings, including barriers by levels of the ecological model, were used for designing a program including environmental strategies to discourage the consumption of energy dense foods and sugar beverages. Formative research was fundamental to developing a context specific obesity prevention program in schools that seeks environment modification and behavior change.

Monogamy and haplodiploidy act in synergy to promote the evolution of eusociality.

PubMed

Fromhage, Lutz; Kokko, Hanna

2011-07-19

In eusocial species, some individuals sacrifice their own reproduction for the benefit of others. The evolutionary transition towards eusociality may have been facilitated by ancestral species having a monogamous mating system (the monogamy hypothesis) or a haplodiploid genetic system (the haplodiploidy hypothesis), or it may have been entirely driven by other (ecological) factors. Here we show, using a model that describes the dynamics of insect colony foundation, growth and death, that monogamy and haplodiploidy facilitate the evolution of eusociality in a novel, mutually reinforcing way. Our findings support the recently questioned importance of relatedness for the evolution of eusociality, and simultaneously highlight the importance of explicitly accounting for the ecological rules of colony foundation, growth and death in models of social evolution.

Determinants of underage college student drinking: implications for four major alcohol reduction strategies.

PubMed

Paek, Hye-Jin; Hove, Thomas

2012-01-01

Guided by the assumptions of the social ecological model and the social marketing approach, this study provides a simultaneous and comprehensive assessment of 4 major alcohol reduction strategies for college campuses: school education programs, social norms campaigns, alcohol counter-marketing, and alcohol control policies. Analysis of nationally representative secondary survey data among 5,472 underage students reveals that alcohol marketing seems to be the most formidable risk factor for underage drinking, followed by perceived drinking norms (injunctive norm) and lax policy enforcement. This analysis suggests that, to make social norms campaigns and alcohol control policies more effective, alcohol reduction strategies should be developed to counter the powerful influence of alcohol marketing and promotions.

Social-Ecological Controls Over Earth-System Stewardship: a Framework for Sustainability in a Rapidly Changing World

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chapin, F. S.; Power, M. E.; Pickett, S.; Jackson, R. B.; Carter, D.; Harden, J. W.

2010-12-01

Human actions are having large and accelerating effects on Earth’s climate, environment, and ecosystems, thereby degrading ecosystem services required by society. This unsustainable trajectory demands a dramatic change in the relationship of humans with the environment and life-support systems of the planet. Earth-system stewardship is an action-oriented framework intended to foster social-ecological sustainability of a rapidly changing world. This builds on problem-relevant research about the social-ecological interactions that drive earth-system change. These include spiraling consumption in developed nations and the broadening gap between the livelihoods of rich and poor people within and among countries. Science that contributes effectively to reversing these trends requires an ongoing dialogue between scientists and users at multiple scales, communicated with sensitivity to social and cultural norms. Such science must motivate behavioral change and deliver information that is perceived as objective, timely, and useful to problem-solving. Recent developments identify four strategies that use current understanding in an environment of inevitable uncertainty and abrupt change: (1) reducing the magnitude of, and exposure and sensitivity to, known stresses; (2) focusing on proactive policies that shape change; and (3) avoiding or escaping unsustainable social-ecological traps. All social-ecological systems are vulnerable to change but have sources of adaptive capacity and resilience that can sustain ecosystem services and human well-being. Discovering and nurturing these sources of adaptive capacity requires, and defines active ecosystem stewardship.

Modified social ecological model: a tool to guide the assessment of the risks and risk contexts of HIV epidemics.

PubMed

Baral, Stefan; Logie, Carmen H; Grosso, Ashley; Wirtz, Andrea L; Beyrer, Chris

2013-05-17

Social and structural factors are now well accepted as determinants of HIV vulnerabilities. These factors are representative of social, economic, organizational and political inequities. Associated with an improved understanding of multiple levels of HIV risk has been the recognition of the need to implement multi-level HIV prevention strategies. Prevention sciences research and programming aiming to decrease HIV incidence requires epidemiologic studies to collect data on multiple levels of risk to inform combination HIV prevention packages. Proximal individual-level risks, such as sharing injection devices and unprotected penile-vaginal or penile-anal sex, are necessary in mediating HIV acquisition and transmission. However, higher order social and structural-level risks can facilitate or reduce HIV transmission on population levels. Data characterizing these risks is often far more actionable than characterizing individual-level risks. We propose a modified social ecological model (MSEM) to help visualize multi-level domains of HIV infection risks and guide the development of epidemiologic HIV studies. Such a model may inform research in epidemiology and prevention sciences, particularly for key populations including men who have sex with men (MSM), people who inject drugs (PID), and sex workers. The MSEM builds on existing frameworks by examining multi-level risk contexts for HIV infection and situating individual HIV infection risks within wider network, community, and public policy contexts as well as epidemic stage. The utility of the MSEM is demonstrated with case studies of HIV risk among PID and MSM. The MSEM is a flexible model for guiding epidemiologic studies among key populations at risk for HIV in diverse sociocultural contexts. Successful HIV prevention strategies for key populations require effective integration of evidence-based biomedical, behavioral, and structural interventions. While the focus of epidemiologic studies has traditionally been on describing individual-level risk factors, the future necessitates comprehensive epidemiologic data characterizing multiple levels of HIV risk.

SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL RESILIENCE AND ADAPTATION ON THE EASTERN SHORE OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY

EPA Science Inventory

It is expected that this research will yield methods for operationalizing and assessing the presence of factors of resilience in social-ecological systems, as well as further understanding on the relationship between vulnerability, adaptation and resilience. In addition, it...

Ecology, Democracy, and Green Schools: An Integrated Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kensler, Lisa A. W.

2012-01-01

Sustainability is the integration of ecological, social, and economic approaches to ensuring healthy local and global communities for present and future generations. Although environmental science and social studies teachers have assumed primary responsibility for sustainability related programs and initiatives, whole school approaches to teaching…

A Framework for Resilience-based Governance of Social-Ecological Systems

EPA Science Inventory

Panarchy provides a heuristic to characterize the cross-scale dynamics of social-ecological systems and a framework for how governance institutions should behave to be compatible with the ecosystems they manage. Managing for resilience will likely require reform of law to account...

People and water: Exploring the social-ecological condition of watersheds of the United States

EPA Science Inventory

A recent paradigm shift from purely biophysical towards social-ecological assessment of watersheds has been proposed to understand, monitor, and manipulate the myriad interactions between human well-being and the ecosystem services that watersheds provide. However, large-scale, q...

Sustainability science: accounting for nonlinear dynamics in policy and social-ecological systems

EPA Science Inventory

Resilience is an emergent property of complex systems. Understanding resilience is critical for sustainability science, as linked social-ecological systems and the policy process that governs them are characterized by non-linear dynamics. Non-linear dynamics in these systems mean...

Vulnerability on the Roof of the World: Resilience to Climate Change and Natural Resource Policies on the Tibetan Plateau

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klein, J. A.; Hopping, K. A.; Yeh, E.; Hu, J.; Nyima, Y.; Boone, R.; Galvin, K.; Kang, S.; Ojima, D. S.

2010-12-01

Pastoralists on the Tibetan Plateau are a marginalized people living in an extreme environment and may be especially vulnerable as the system approaches critical thresholds. In Tibet, temperatures are increasing several times more than the global average while the frequency and severity of severe snowstorms is predicted to increase. Pastoralists are also experiencing reduced mobility and severe grazing restrictions. We are using interdisciplinary frameworks and methods that include a multifactor ecological experiment, household interviews, remote sensing, and a coupled ecosystem and household decision-making model to examine herder and ecosystem vulnerability to climate change and extreme weather events within the context of changing natural resource policies in China. The fully factorial ecological experiment includes two climate changes (warming and spring snow additions) and two types of grazing (yak and pika). We established the experiment in 2008 within the Tibet Autonomous Region (4,870 m) and are monitoring microclimate, vegetation, nutrient availability, carbon fluxes and stable isotopes. We are investigating the sensitivity of the system, whether it is likely to cross critical thresholds, and how resilient this system may be to predicted climate and land use changes. Semi-structured interviews on indigenous knowledge and vulnerability complement the ecological experimental work. We are asking herders about climatic and ecological change and vulnerability to snow disasters. To integrate our ecological and social findings, we are coupling an ecosystem model to an agent-based pastoral household model. Our results from the experiment and the indigenous knowledge study suggest that Kobresia pygmaea, the dominant species and primary grazing resource, is vulnerable to warming. Snow additions can partially mediate this effect. Herders throughout this region share common knowledge about both climatic and ecological changes, but appear to be more closely attuned to ecological shifts than to gradual climate changes. Herder perceptions about climate trends often contradict local weather station data, but herders tend to be in strong agreement that grassland health has declined. These results suggest that rangeland degradation has occurred, and that climate warming may be one driver responsible for these changes. While additional snow may improve ecological conditions, the warming-induced degradation may make the social-ecological system more vulnerable to large snowstorm events. Our findings suggest that climate adaptation strategies should address the effects of both warming and extreme weather events and should also encourage land use policies that will maintain these systems under change. The vulnerability of ecosystems on the roof of the world has implications for the 1x109 people living downstream and for feedbacks to the Earth’s climate system.

Ecosocial consequences and policy implications of disease management in East African agropastoral systems.

PubMed

Gutierrez, Andrew Paul; Gilioli, Gianni; Baumgärtner, Johann

2009-08-04

International research and development efforts in Africa have brought ecological and social change, but analyzing the consequences of this change and developing policy to manage it for sustainable development has been difficult. This has been largely due to a lack of conceptual and analytical models to access the interacting dynamics of the different components of ecosocial systems. Here, we examine the ecological and social changes resulting from an ongoing suppression of trypanosomiasis disease in cattle in an agropastoral community in southwest Ethiopia to illustrate how such problems may be addressed. The analysis combines physiologically based demographic models of pasture, cattle, and pastoralists and a bioeconomic model that includes the demographic models as dynamic constraints in the economic objective function that maximizes the utility of individual consumption under different level of disease risk in cattle. Field data and model analysis show that suppression of trypanosomiasis leads to increased cattle and human populations and to increased agricultural development. However, in the absence of sound management, these changes will lead to a decline in pasture quality and increase the risk from tick-borne diseases in cattle and malaria in humans that would threaten system sustainability and resilience. The analysis of these conflicting outcomes of trypanosomiasis suppression is used to illustrate the need for and utility of conceptual bioeconomic models to serve as a basis for developing policy for sustainable agropastoral resource management in sub-Saharan Africa.

Bringing political ecology into critical medical anthropology: a challenge to biocultural approaches.

PubMed

Baer, H A

1996-12-01

This essay presents an effort to incorporate the "environment" into critical medical anthropology. Rather than relying upon the multifactorial approach characteristic of medical ecology or biocultural approaches in medical anthropology, it urges critical medical anthropologists to turn to the burgeoning literature on eco-Marxism, eco-socialism, or political ecology in their efforts to develop a political ecology of health. Given that political ecologists generally advocate democratic eco-socialism as a meaningful alternative to the capitalist world system, this essay also presents a critical examination of the environmental record of post-revolutionary societies.

From ecological test site to geographic information system: lessons for the 1980's

USGS Publications Warehouse

Alexander, Robert H.

1981-01-01

Geographic information systems were common elements in two kinds of interdisciplinary regional demonstration projects in the 1970's. Ecological test sits attempted to provide for more efficient remote-sensing data delivery for regional environmental management. Regional environmental systems analysis attempted to formally describe and model the interacting regional social and environmental processes, including the resource-use decision making process. Lessons for the 1980's are drawn from recent evaluations and assessments of these programs, focusing on cost, rates of system development and technology transfer, program coordination, integrative analysis capability, and the involvement of system users and decision makers.

A Life-Cycle Model of Human Social Groups Produces a U-Shaped Distribution in Group Size.

PubMed

Salali, Gul Deniz; Whitehouse, Harvey; Hochberg, Michael E

2015-01-01

One of the central puzzles in the study of sociocultural evolution is how and why transitions from small-scale human groups to large-scale, hierarchically more complex ones occurred. Here we develop a spatially explicit agent-based model as a first step towards understanding the ecological dynamics of small and large-scale human groups. By analogy with the interactions between single-celled and multicellular organisms, we build a theory of group lifecycles as an emergent property of single cell demographic and expansion behaviours. We find that once the transition from small-scale to large-scale groups occurs, a few large-scale groups continue expanding while small-scale groups gradually become scarcer, and large-scale groups become larger in size and fewer in number over time. Demographic and expansion behaviours of groups are largely influenced by the distribution and availability of resources. Our results conform to a pattern of human political change in which religions and nation states come to be represented by a few large units and many smaller ones. Future enhancements of the model should include decision-making rules and probabilities of fragmentation for large-scale societies. We suggest that the synthesis of population ecology and social evolution will generate increasingly plausible models of human group dynamics.

A Life-Cycle Model of Human Social Groups Produces a U-Shaped Distribution in Group Size

PubMed Central

Salali, Gul Deniz; Whitehouse, Harvey; Hochberg, Michael E.

2015-01-01

One of the central puzzles in the study of sociocultural evolution is how and why transitions from small-scale human groups to large-scale, hierarchically more complex ones occurred. Here we develop a spatially explicit agent-based model as a first step towards understanding the ecological dynamics of small and large-scale human groups. By analogy with the interactions between single-celled and multicellular organisms, we build a theory of group lifecycles as an emergent property of single cell demographic and expansion behaviours. We find that once the transition from small-scale to large-scale groups occurs, a few large-scale groups continue expanding while small-scale groups gradually become scarcer, and large-scale groups become larger in size and fewer in number over time. Demographic and expansion behaviours of groups are largely influenced by the distribution and availability of resources. Our results conform to a pattern of human political change in which religions and nation states come to be represented by a few large units and many smaller ones. Future enhancements of the model should include decision-making rules and probabilities of fragmentation for large-scale societies. We suggest that the synthesis of population ecology and social evolution will generate increasingly plausible models of human group dynamics. PMID:26381745

A conceptual socio-hydrological model of the co-evolution of humans and water: case study of the Tarim River basin, western China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, D.; Tian, F.; Lin, M.; Sivapalan, M.

2015-02-01

The complex interactions and feedbacks between humans and water are critically important issues but remain poorly understood in the newly proposed discipline of socio-hydrology (Sivapalan et al., 2012). An exploratory model with the appropriate level of simplification can be valuable for improving our understanding of the co-evolution and self-organization of socio-hydrological systems driven by interactions and feedbacks operating at different scales. In this study, a simplified conceptual socio-hydrological model based on logistic growth curves is developed for the Tarim River basin in western China and is used to illustrate the explanatory power of such a co-evolutionary model. The study area is the main stream of the Tarim River, which is divided into two modeling units. The socio-hydrological system is composed of four sub-systems, i.e., the hydrological, ecological, economic, and social sub-systems. In each modeling unit, the hydrological equation focusing on water balance is coupled to the other three evolutionary equations to represent the dynamics of the social sub-system (denoted by population), the economic sub-system (denoted by irrigated crop area ratio), and the ecological sub-system (denoted by natural vegetation cover), each of which is expressed in terms of a logistic growth curve. Four feedback loops are identified to represent the complex interactions among different sub-systems and different spatial units, of which two are inner loops occurring within each separate unit and the other two are outer loops linking the two modeling units. The feedback mechanisms are incorporated into the constitutive relations for model parameters, i.e., the colonization and mortality rates in the logistic growth curves that are jointly determined by the state variables of all sub-systems. The co-evolution of the Tarim socio-hydrological system is then analyzed with this conceptual model to gain insights into the overall system dynamics and its sensitivity to the external drivers and internal system variables. The results show a costly pendulum swing between a balanced distribution of socio-economic and natural ecologic resources among the upper and lower reaches and a highly skewed distribution towards the upper reach. This evolution is principally driven by the attitudinal changes occurring within water resources management policies that reflect the evolving community awareness of society to concerns regarding the ecology and environment.

Ecological restoration should be redefined for the twenty-first century

EPA Science Inventory

Forty years ago, ecological restoration was conceptualized through a natural science lens. Today, ecological restoration has evolved into a social and scientific concept. The duality of ecological restoration is acknowledged in guidance documents on the subject but is not apparen...

Practice Forum: Self Psychology in Child Welfare Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldmeier, John; Fandetti, Donald V.

1991-01-01

The use of self-psychology, a theory first developed by Heinz Kohut, is discussed and illustrated with case examples from child welfare practice. The cases demonstrate that self-psychology can enhance an ecological model. The ways in which self-psychology can enrich the social worker's therapeutic role in permanency planning are emphasized.…

The Legacy of Hobbs and Gray: Research on the Development and Prevention of Conduct Problems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dodge, Kenneth A.

1996-01-01

Describes research on the development of chronic conduct problems in childhood and adolescence, examining a multiple risk-factor model that includes biological predispositions, ecological context, family processes, peer influences, academic performance, and social information processing as factors leading to conduct problems. The paper describes a…

"I'll Squeeze It In": Transforming Preservice Classroom Teachers' Perceptions toward Movement Integration in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goh, Tan Leng; Hannon, James C.; Newton, Maria; Webster, Collin; Podlog, Leslie; Pillow, Wanda

2013-01-01

A program titled Physical Education Programming Infusion (PEPI) was incorporated into a required science methods course for preservice classroom teachers (PCTs). Using the transformative learning theory and the social ecological model, the authors examined changes in PCTs' personal health behaviors and perceived barriers toward movement…

Integrating social, economic, and ecological values across large landscapes

Treesearch

Jessica E. Halofsky; Megan K. Creutzburg; Miles A. Hemstrom

2014-01-01

The Integrated Landscape Assessment Project (ILAP) was a multiyear effort to produce information, maps, and models to help land managers, policymakers, and others conduct mid- to broad-scale (e.g., watersheds to states and larger areas) prioritization of land management actions, perform landscape assessments, and estimate cumulative effects of management actions for...

Training AIDS and Anger Prevention Social Skills in At-Risk Adolescents.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hovell, Melbourne F.; Blumberg, Elaine J.; Liles, Sandy; Powell, Linda; Morrison, Theodore C.; Duran, Gabriela; Sipan, Carol L.; Burkham, Susan; Kelley, Norma

2001-01-01

Tests the effectiveness of behavioral skills training based on the Behavioral-Ecological Model among a group of adolescents. Evaluates two interventions: one teaching condom use skills and the other teaching anger management skills. Changes in most skills were significant at postintervention but were not maintained at six months. Few risk-related…

Climate change and North American rangelands: Assessment of mitigation and adaptation strategies

Treesearch

Linda A. Joyce; David D. Briske; Joel R. Brown; H. Wayne Polley; Bruce A. McCarl; Derek W. Bailey

2013-01-01

Recent climatic trends and climate model projections indicate that climate change will modify rangeland ecosystem functions and the services and livelihoods that they provision. Recent history has demonstrated that climatic variability has a strong influence on both ecological and social components of rangeland systems and that these systems possess substantial...

Personal and Family Correlates of Suicidal Ideation among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lai Kwok, Sylvia Y. C.; Shek, Daniel T. L.

2010-01-01

Based on the family ecological model, personal (hopelessness, social problem solving, emotional competence) and family (parent-adolescent communication, family functioning) quality of life measures related to adolescent suicidal ideation were examined in 5,557 Secondary 1 to Secondary 4 students in Hong Kong. Results showed that suicidal ideation…

Promoting Positive Peer Relationships among Youths: A Study Examining the Effects of a Class-Wide Bullying Prevention Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Earhart, James Allen, Jr.

2011-01-01

Bullying in schools has revealed deleterious psychosocial consequences for bullies, victims, and bystanders. Programs aimed at preventing bullying have largely revealed limited positive outcomes. Efforts that have been associated with positive results have drawn from the social-ecological model, focusing on the constellation of individual…

Social Contexts of Regular Smoking in Adolescence: Towards a Multidimensional Ecological Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wen, Ming; Van Duker, Heather; Olson, Lenora M.

2009-01-01

Using data from the Add Health, this study examined multilevel factors of adolescent smoking after controlling for the baseline smoking behavior and individual characteristics. Results showed that peer, family and school were all important life domains contextually influencing subsequent smoking behavior among adolescents. Time spent with peers,…

Identifying Synergies in Multilevel Interventions: The Convergence Strategy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Megan A.; Fitzgerald, Tania M.; Zulkiewicz, Brittany; Peinado, Susana; Williams, Pamela A.

2017-01-01

Social ecological models of health often describe multiple levels of influence that interact to influence health. However, it is still common for interventions to target only one or two of these levels, perhaps owing in part to a lack of guidance on how to design multilevel interventions to achieve optimal impact. The convergence strategy…

PSOLA: A Heuristic Land-Use Allocation Model Using Patch-Level Operations and Knowledge-Informed Rules.

PubMed

Liu, Yaolin; Peng, Jinjin; Jiao, Limin; Liu, Yanfang

2016-01-01

Optimizing land-use allocation is important to regional sustainable development, as it promotes the social equality of public services, increases the economic benefits of land-use activities, and reduces the ecological risk of land-use planning. Most land-use optimization models allocate land-use using cell-level operations that fragment land-use patches. These models do not cooperate well with land-use planning knowledge, leading to irrational land-use patterns. This study focuses on building a heuristic land-use allocation model (PSOLA) using particle swarm optimization. The model allocates land-use with patch-level operations to avoid fragmentation. The patch-level operations include a patch-edge operator, a patch-size operator, and a patch-compactness operator that constrain the size and shape of land-use patches. The model is also integrated with knowledge-informed rules to provide auxiliary knowledge of land-use planning during optimization. The knowledge-informed rules consist of suitability, accessibility, land use policy, and stakeholders' preference. To validate the PSOLA model, a case study was performed in Gaoqiao Town in Zhejiang Province, China. The results demonstrate that the PSOLA model outperforms a basic PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) in the terms of the social, economic, ecological, and overall benefits by 3.60%, 7.10%, 1.53% and 4.06%, respectively, which confirms the effectiveness of our improvements. Furthermore, the model has an open architecture, enabling its extension as a generic tool to support decision making in land-use planning.

PSOLA: A Heuristic Land-Use Allocation Model Using Patch-Level Operations and Knowledge-Informed Rules

PubMed Central

Liu, Yaolin; Peng, Jinjin; Jiao, Limin; Liu, Yanfang

2016-01-01

Optimizing land-use allocation is important to regional sustainable development, as it promotes the social equality of public services, increases the economic benefits of land-use activities, and reduces the ecological risk of land-use planning. Most land-use optimization models allocate land-use using cell-level operations that fragment land-use patches. These models do not cooperate well with land-use planning knowledge, leading to irrational land-use patterns. This study focuses on building a heuristic land-use allocation model (PSOLA) using particle swarm optimization. The model allocates land-use with patch-level operations to avoid fragmentation. The patch-level operations include a patch-edge operator, a patch-size operator, and a patch-compactness operator that constrain the size and shape of land-use patches. The model is also integrated with knowledge-informed rules to provide auxiliary knowledge of land-use planning during optimization. The knowledge-informed rules consist of suitability, accessibility, land use policy, and stakeholders’ preference. To validate the PSOLA model, a case study was performed in Gaoqiao Town in Zhejiang Province, China. The results demonstrate that the PSOLA model outperforms a basic PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) in the terms of the social, economic, ecological, and overall benefits by 3.60%, 7.10%, 1.53% and 4.06%, respectively, which confirms the effectiveness of our improvements. Furthermore, the model has an open architecture, enabling its extension as a generic tool to support decision making in land-use planning. PMID:27322619